IMPORTANT POINT
The corporation cannot charge the dealer for services without a specific agreement, violating the dealership agreement's obligations.

ORDER:

Ravi Cheemalapaati, J.

This writ petition has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for the following relieff:

“…..issue an appropriate writ or order or direction more in the nature of a writ of mandamus declaring the action of the respondents indebiting an amount of Rs.16,756/-on 30.09.2022 towards VSAT services without even providing the service and an amount of Rs.1,479/-every month towards e-locking service, as illegal, dehors jurisdiction, ultra vires of the conferred powers, unlawful gain, manifestly arbitrary, predominantly unconscionable, capricious and being flagrantly highhandedly capricious, violative of Articles 14, 19(1)(g), 21 of the Constitution of India and Dealership agreement and to direct the respondents to refrain from making any further unauthorized debits from the petitioner’s SAP account by paying the unlawfully debited amount of Rs.65,567.62 ps. along with 24% interest per annum…..”

2. The case of the petitioner, in brief, is that he is operating retail outlet of the respondent corporation under the name and style “Aditya Filling Station” in Koduru, Krishna District from 21.08.2014 onwards and pursuantly, SAP account i.e. Systems Applications and Products in Data Processing account was created for him, through which all the transactions relating to the retail outlet take place, which is solely accessible by the respondent corporation, enabling it to unilaterally debit amount from the account without intimating the dealer and without taking consent from the dealer. The respondent corporation introduced digital e-locking system and installed it in the tank trucks to ensure safe delivery of petroleum products from Corporation’s terminal i.e. supply point to the retail outlets. As per clause 9(a) of the Dealership Agreement, the corporation shall supply the products (MS/HSD) at the premises of the Dealer. Contrary to the said clause, the respondent corporation is collecting Rs.1479/-every month towards rentals of digital e-locking system since 13.05.2020. Though the petitioner did not sign the addendum, clause-1 of which states that Rs.1253-50 along with 18% GST will be recovered from the dealers for operation of e-locking system and without there being any agreement between the petitioner and respondent corporation to debit the amount for providing e-locking system services, the respondent corporation is debiting Rs.1,479/-for every single month since May,2020 from the petitioner’s SAP account and till date they have debited Rs.48,811.62.

It is the further case of the petitioner that, the respondent corporation vide letter dated 22.04.2019 informed him that it will be installing Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) mechanism for stable connectivity of wifi in every retail outlet and all the dealers including the petitioner are obligated to pay Rs.14,200/-per annum towards annual rental service. The VSAT mechanism installed at retail outlet did not provide stable connectivity and it had several issues and the respondent corporation stopped supplying the said service from 31.03.2021. Despite the same, the respondent corporation debited an amount of Rs.16,756/-on 30.09.2022 from the petitioner’s SAP account towards provision of VSAT services. The petitioner along with other dealers submitted multiple representations to the corporation regarding the unauthorized debits in SAP account towards provision of VSAT and e-locking services and further the petitioner had also filed a complaint with Department of Administrative and Public Grievances on 30.12.2022, for which the corporation vide letter dated 30.01.2023 had given a very vague statement to the effect that the rentals towards digital e-locking and VSAT are deducted as per Corporation guidelines. The respondent corporation falls within the ambit of State as per Article 12 of the Constitution. The respondent corporation is making unauthorized debits in a predominant and monopolistic manner from its dealer’s SAP accounts without any prior