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2012 Supreme(Raj) 723

(Rajasthan High Court)
Jaipur Bench
Bharat Petroleum Corpn. Vs. Raghav Bharat Gas (Bhagwati, J.)
HON'BLE ARUN MISHRA, CJ.
HON'BLE MAHESH BHAGWATI, J.
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. & Anr.
Versus
M/s. Raghav Bharat Gas
D.B. Civil Special Appeal (Writ) No. 752 of 2012
D.B. Civil Misc. Stay Application No.7482 of 2012, decided on 30.05.2012

Advocates Appeared
Ashok Kumar Bhargava, for Appellants;
Rajendra Prasad & Ashish Kishore Saxena, for Respondent

Headnote:Cr.P.C., 1973, Sec. 251 — Charge — Meaning and scope — Termination of LPG Distributorship — Charge of offence u/S. 3/7 of E.C. Act settled against respondent — Suppressed this information and furnished a false affidavit to the effect that he had never been convicted nor charges had ever been framed against him by any court of law — Held — In summons cases, the requirement to state the particulars of the offence is akin to framing of charge, but the concept of discharge is not applicable in relation to Sec. 251, as is provided in warrant trial cases — Grant of final relief in the form of interim order is not permissible to the Courts — Committed error in staying operation of impugned orders — Set aside — Requested Single Judge to decide the case on merit.

       Appeal partly allowed. (Paras 11, 13 to 15)

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       vihy va'kr% Lohdkj dhA ¼in 11] 13 ls 15½

       

Hon'ble BHAGWATI, J.—This intra court appeal is as against the order dated 22nd May, 2012, whereby the learned Single Judge admitted the writ petition and another order dated 22nd May, 2012 rendered in stay application no. 3559/2012, whereby the learned Single Judge stayed the operation of order dated 24th March, 2012 passed by the appellants-respondents.

2. Shorn of unnecessary details, the facts of the case, in nub, are that pursuant to advertisement in news paper namely Times of India and Rajasthan Patrika on 13th March, 2010 for the appointment of LPG Distributorship at Pratap Nagar, Jaipur, the respondent-petitioner M/s. Raghav Bharat Gas through its Proprietor Naresh Kumar Gupta applied for Pratap Nagar LPG Distributorship and submitted an application dated 3rd May, 2010 in requisite proforma along-with relevant documents. On the basis of application duly supported by relevant documents and the interview, the appellants-respondents issued a Letter of Intent dated 7th April, 2011 to the respondent-petitioner and Distributorship agreement dated 5th September, 2011 was signed by both the parties. It is averred that one clause of the application form was to the following effect, where the applicant was required to furnish the correct information, which runs thus:

“Clause-15: Have you ever been convicted or charges have been framed by the court of law for any criminal offence involving moral turpitude and / or economic offence (other than freedom of struggle)?

(If yes, then you are not eligible to apply.)

3. The respondent-petitioner gave a certificate to the effect that he had read the conditions applicable for the LPG Distributorship mentioned in the advertisement and confirmed that he fulfilled the eligibility criteria for the LPG Distributorship, he had applied for in the said application. Along-with this application, he had also submitted Notorized affidavit dated 30th April, 2010, wherein in clause 5, he had made the following statement:

“That I have never been convicted nor charges have ever been framed against him by any court of law for any criminal offence involving moral turpitude and / or economic offences (other than freedom of struggle).”

4. The respondent thereafter verified that what had been stated above was true and correct to the best of his knowledge and nothing material had been concealed therefrom. When the respondent was appointed as LPG Distributor at Pratap Nagar, District Jaipur, he executed an agreement, Clause 28 whereof reads as under:

“Clause – 28:

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein contained, the Corporation shall also be at liberty at its discretion to terminate this agreement forthwith upon or at any time after the happening of any of the following events, namely:-

(i) if any information given by the Distributor in his application for appointment as a Distributor shall be found to be untrue or incorrect in any material particular.

5. Thereafter the fact of pendency of a criminal case for the offence under Section 3 readwith Section 7 of Essential Commodities Act in the court situated at Jaipur came into the notice of the appellant, whereupon the appellant-respondent issued a show cause notice to the respondent-petitioner. The respondent-petitioner filed the reply, but the reply was not found to be correct and thus, the appellants-respondents terminated the LPG Distributorship of the respondent vide order dated 24th March, 2012. Aggrieved with the said order, the respondent-petitioner filed the writ petition in the High Court and the learned Single Judge having admitted the writ petition, stayed the operation of order dated 24th March, 2012 passed by the appellants-respondents – Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited.

6. Having heard the learned counsel for the parties and carefully perused the relevant material on record, it is revealed that the respondent-petitioner stated in the application form that he had never been convicted nor the charges had ever been framed against him by any court of























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