The applicant must fulfill the eligibility criteria at the time of application, and decisions regarding forfeiture must be justified and not arbitrary.

JUDGMENT

Manish Choudhury, J. - The writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is preferred by the writ petitioner for setting aside and quashing of a letter dated 13.11.2018 issued by the respondent no. 3 i.e. the Territory Manager (LPG), North East LPG Territory, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited whereby the application of the petitioner offered for distributorship of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) for the subject location, Fulerchar Part-III, District - South Salmara Mankachar, Assam was rejected and for a direction to the respondent authorities in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited to accept the application of the writ petitioner for the aforementioned subject location.

2. The genesis behind the writ petition is an advertisement published jointly by three Public Sector Oil Marketing companies viz. Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) for selection of distributors of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in 93 locations in different districts of the State of Assam.

3. By the said advertisement published in the daily newspaper, "Asomiya Pratidin", in its issue dated 25.05.2018, the Public Sector Oil Companies viz. Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) invited applications on-line from interested candidates for selection of distributors of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in 93 locations in different districts of the State of Assam. The last date of submission of on-line application was 25.06.2018.

3.1. The advertisement inter alia laid down the eligible criteria for distributorship of LPG. The applicants were further requested to go through the related Brochure carefully before filling up the applications, which was available in the website www.lpgvitarakchayan.in. The eligibility criteria were mentioned in detail in 'the Brochure on Unified Guidelines for Selection of LPG Distributors' (hereinafter referred to as 'the Brochure on Unified Selection Guidelines') for Sheheri Vitrak, Rurban Vitrak, Gramin Vitrak and Durgam Kshetriya Vitrak. The said Unified Guidelines for Selection of LPG Distributors were made effective from June, 2017.

3.2. Clause 1 of the Brochure on Unified Selection Guidelines has provided the definitions of different terms. For the purpose of the present writ petition, Clause 1(w) is of relevance, which reads as follows :-

"1(w) 'Ownership' or 'own' for godown / showroom for Shehri Vitrak, Rurban Vitrak, Gramin Vitrak and Durgam Kshetriya Vitrak Type of Distributorship means having :

a. Ownership title of the property

Or

b. Registered lease deed having minimum 15 years of valid lease period commencing on any day from the date of advertisement up to the last date of submission of application as specified either in the advertisement or corrigendum (if any).

Additionally, applicants having registered lease deed commencing on any date prior to the date of advertisement will also be considered provided the lease is valid for a minimum period of 15 years from the date of advertisement. The applicant should have ownership as defined under the term 'own' above in the name of the applicant / member of "Family Unit" (as defined in multiple dealership / distributorship norm of eligibility criteria) / parents (nuclides Step Father / Step Mother), grandparents (both maternal and paternal), Brother / Sister (including Step Brother & Step Sister), Son / Daughter (includes Step Son / Step daughter), Son-in-law / Daughter-in-law; of the applicant or the spouse (in case of married daughter) as on the last date for submission of application as specified in the advertisement or corrigendum (if any). In case of ownership / co-ownership by family member(s) as given above, consent in the form of a declaration from the family member(s) will be required.

In case the share of land in the jointly owned property by the applicant / member of '