The conformity letter from an advocate plays a crucial role in determining the eligibility of the offered land and the applicant's title to it, and the rejection based solely on the conformity letter being of a later date than the application was deemed unjust and arbitrary.

JUDGMENT

SANDEEP K.SHINDE,J. - Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. With Rane consent of the parties, Petition is taken up for final hearing.

2. This Petition, under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, challenges the communication dtd. 1/7/2021, issued by the Head of Divisional Office, Nagpur Divisional Office, Indian Oil Corporation Limited ( IOCL , for short). By which, the candidature of the " " Petitioner for Retail Outlet Dealership on National Highway -6 from Nagpur to Raipur between KM Stone 458 to 468 in Group-I, was declared ineligible and petitioner has been placed in Group-3, as per guidelines.

3. The respondents in their reply have explained their policy as to the dealership of Retail Outlets. In terms of it, dealership of Retail Outlets are of three categories; namely Group-1; consisting of candidates having ownership of land; Group-2-consisting of candidates having firm offer , of land; and Group-3-consisting of " " candidates not having any land. As such, candidates in Group-1, are given a priority over Group-2 and Group-3 candidates and candidates in Group-2 are given a priority over Group-3 candidates. The Petitioner, in pursuant to notice/advertisement issued by the IOCL inviting applications for dealership of the Retail Outlet, submitted online application on 5/12/2018 for the aforesaid location in Group-1 by furnishing ownership details of land, in Column No.13 of the form, details of which were as under :-

13. Land details - Group 1 (copy of proof of ownership of land would be required to be submitted as and when advised Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.)

4. In terms of the Guidelines, the applicants under Group-1 were to establish ownership of land offered for the dealership as on date of application, whereas the land owned by family members would be considered as belonging to applicants (Group-1) subject to producing the consent letter in form of Affidavit (Appendix-IIIA) from the concerned family members. However, for Group-2 applicants, the firm offer of land would include the land " " offered from third party based on agreement to purchase/ long term lease and offer letter should be in form of Affidavit (Appendix-IIIA) alongwith the title documents to establish the ownership of land offered for the dealership. In addition thereto, in terms of sub-clause-k of Clause4(v), each applicant was obliged to arrange for a conformity letter from Advocate (Appendix-IIIB) giving details of current ownership, documents relied upon and category in which the land falls, whether, Group-1 or Group-2, as on date of application.

5. In the case at hand, the petitioner submitted application through online mode on prescribed web portal on 5/12/2018 declaring that offered land falls in Category 'A'. As per the notice/advertisement, last date scheduled for submitting the online applications was 24/12/2018. Thus, Petitioner's application was in time. Here, although the Petitioner submitted online application on 5/12/2018, conformity letter from advocate in Appendix-III-B was dated 12th August, submitted on 14/5/2018. The respondents rejected the Petitioner's candidature under Group-A, reason being conformity letter of advocate in Appendix-III-B was of later date, than the date of the application. Resultantly. the Petitioner was placed under Group-3. To appreciate the controversy-fact in issue, we deem it appropriate to reproduce letter of rejection, which read as under;

Subject: Application for award of RO dealership at On RHS on NH 6 from Nagpur to Raipur between KM stone 458 to 468 District. BHAN DARA under OBC category Advertised on 25-Nov-2018 Dear Madam,

1. Please refer to your application received by us as Application form No. 15439893546251 on the subject,

2. Please also refer to our letter dated 10-Mar-2021 and wherein you were advised to subrait certain documents.

3. However, it is observed that land documents submitted by you are not valid for considering the offered land under Group 1 for reasons as detail