The temporary dealership was granted on an ad-hoc, stop-gap basis and was subject to termination upon the establishment of a permanent arrangement. The grant of dealership to respondent no. 3 was made after inviting applications and following a selection process.

1. Petitioner no.1 is a partnership firm and petitioner no. 2 is one of its partners. The petitioners are aggrieved by the termination of dealership for K. oil for Dehri-on-Sone given to petitioner no.1 (on an ad-hoc, stop-gap basis) and the discontinuance of supply of oil by the respondent Oil Company, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited. They seek a direction to the respondents to restore the dealership to the firm and the supply of K. oil to it.

2. The dealership of K. oil for Dehri-on-Sone was initially given to one Dinanath Prasad. He happened to be the sole dealer of K. oil for Dehri-on-Sone for the respond-ent oil company. He died. In such cases normally the dealership is given to the heirs and legal representatives left behind by the dealer. But in this case his wife Mrs. Triveni Devi declined to accept the dealership and to carry on the business. A situation was, thus, created where there-was no K. oil dealer of the respondent company at Dehri-on-Sone. It naturally caused dislocation of supply of K. oil, which is an essential commodity, to the general public and in those circumstances the district administration as well as the petroleum company were required to make an emergent stop-gap arrangement.

3. The petitioner firm held K. oil dealership of the petroleum company for Patna, Islampur in Nalanda district, Arrah in Bhojpur district and Bhabhua in Kaimur district. It appears that in order to meet the emergent situation arising from the death of the original dealer Dinanath Pd. and the refusal of his wife to accept the dealership in his place, the petitioner firm was asked by the respondent Company to take-up the supply of oil at Dehri-on-Sone on its behalf. The petitioners agreed to the arrangement and consequently by letter, dated 30.10.1993 (Annexure 1) the firm was given the dealership at Dehri-on-Sone. The letter granting dealership made it abundantly clear that the appointment of the firm (petitioner no. 1) as dealer at Dehri-on-Sone was temporary; it was an ad-hoc and stop-gap arrangement and was to continue till a permanent arrangement was made. It was further stipulated in the letter that the grant of licence would not create in favour to the petitioner firm any right, title or interest in the dealership in question or any right to have the SKO dealership in due course. Clause 11 of this letter further stated that the temporary dealership would, in any event, come to an end on 29.10.1994.

4. It is significant to note here that the temporary dealership was granted to the petitioner not on the basis of any open advertisement or by following a selection process known to law. It was an arrangement to meet certain exigencies.

5. Though the temporary dealership was expressly for a period of one year, it appears that due to procedural delays regular and permanent arrangement could not be made for a long time and the temporary dealership granted to the petitioner firm was extended from time to time. It further appears that in the internal allocation of dealerships Dehri-on-Sone fell in the category reserved for freedom fighters. Finally, a notice was issued in the daily Hindustan of 11.9.2000, inviting applications for grant of dealerships for K. Oil for different places, including Dehri-on-Sone in the district of Rohtas. In the notice, it was indicated that the dealership for Dehri-on-Sone was reserved for freedom fighters. In pursuance of the notice, respondent no. 3 made an application. He was selected by the Dealers Selection Board and was granted the dealership for Dehri-on-Sone.

6. Consequent upon the grant of dealership to respondent no. 3, the temporary arrangement made with petitioner no.1 was terminated by letter, dated 2.4.2002 (brought on record as Annexure-J to the counter affidavit filed by respondent no. 3). With the termination of the temporary dealership the supply of oil for Dehri-on-Sone was also stopped to the petitioner firm. The petitioners then filed a suit being Title Suit No. 326 of