Partha Sarthy, J.—

Re: I.A. No. 1 of 2022

Having heard learned counsel for the parties and taking into consideration the submissions made together with the contents of the interlocutory application, the Court is of the opinion that the petitioner has made out a case for condonation of delay in filing of the instant application.

2. The delay is condoned and I.A. no. 1 of 2022 is allowed The instant review application has been preferred by the appellant-petitioner for review of the judgment and order dated 2.8.2022 passed in LPA no. 625 of 2021 (arising out of C.W.J.C. no. 559 of 2020) (M/s Gauri Shankar Indane service Kuchaikote, District- Gopalganj vs. Indian Oil Corporation and Others).

3. The facts giving rise to the instant review petition is that pursuant to an advertisement published in the daily newspaper in the year 2007, the father of the petitioner applied for Indane Gas Distributorship at Kuchaikote, District- Gopalganj under the Freedom Fighters category. He was selected and a Letter of Intent (‘LOI’ in short) dated 30.10.2008 was issued to him, however unfortunately he died the very next day on 31.10.2008. Soon thereafter as per the existing policy, the petitioner being the son of the deceased LOI holder filed his application on 17.02.2009 wherein besides other details he mentioned in clause 14.2 of his application form about having a balance of Rs. 20,40,000/- in his Bank Account number 014111 in the Central Cooperative Bank Limited, Siwan. Based on the points allotted on account of the said balance in his account as also the documents submitted, the petitioner was allotted the distributorship and the same was commissioned. In course of running the distributorship, a new agreement was entered into in 2016.

4. Subsequently a complaint dated 23.10.2017 was filed by an ex-employee against the petitioner in the P.M.O.. The same was verified by the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL in short) and the IOCL by its letter dated 9.2.2018 intimated the P.M.O that no fraud was found against the petitioner. Another complaint was received in Vigilance Department of the IOCL at Kolkata to the effect that the petitioner had procured the LPG distributorship on the basis of forged and fabricated documents. The complainant provided photocopy of the bank passbook which showed that as against the claim of having a balance of Rs. 20,40,000/-, the petitioner in fact had a balance of only Rs. 2,40,000/- in his account no. 14111 in the Siwan Central Cooperative Bank Ltd. on the date of his application. On enquiry by the Vigilance Department of IOCL, the bank in its response confirmed that the balance in the said account was Rs. 2,40,000/- from 14.2.2009 to 31.3.2009 and the appellant had withdrawn a sum of Rs. 2,39,500/- by cheque no. 019577. To a further enquiry with respect to issuance of copy of the passbook dated 14.9.2009 and certificates dated 14.2.2009 and 9.3.2009 produced by the petitioner at the time of his selection, the bank responded by letter dated 29.1.2019 stating that the these documents were not issued by the bank. A show cause notice dated 29.8.2009 was issued by the competent authority of the IOCL to the petitioner to which the petitioner filed his replies denying the allegations.

5. Taking into account all the materials on record including the show cause filed by the petitioner and also having heard him and his advocate in person, by order dated 30.12.2019 issued under the signature of the General Manager I/C LPG of the IOCL, the distributorship of M/s Gauri Shankar Indane Service, Kochaikote was terminated with immediate effect.

6. The petitioner preferred a writ application (C.W.J.C no. 559 of 2020) in this Court against the order of termination dated 30.12.2019 which was dismissed by order dated 22.5.2020 by the learned Single Judge. Thereafter a review application (C. Rev. no.79 of 2020) was filed by the petitioner praying for review of the judgment and order dated 22.5.2020 passed in C.W.J.C no. 559 of 2020. The learned