The income criteria for the allotment of a retail outlet refers to gross income without deduction of expenditure deductible under the Income-tax Act, and the applicant must satisfy the residency requirement for a period of five years immediately preceding the date of application.

N.K.SODHI, J.:-

1. Whether the criteria of income fixed by an Oil Company for the allotment of retail outlet refers to gross income without deduction of expenditure which may otherwise be deductible for purposes of assessment under the Income-tax Act is the short but interesting question that arises for determination in Letters Patent Appeal No. 267 of 1995 and Civil Writ Petition 3618 of 1995. Both these cases can be conveniently disposed of by one order as the challenge in them is to the allotment of a retail outlet in favour of Smt. Anita Singhal, respondent in these cases.

2. Brief facts of the case may first be noticed. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (for short, the Corporation) proposed to appoint a dealer for a retail outlet at Bata Morh, Faridabad in the State of Haryana and it invited applications through an advertisement published in various newspapers on April 16, 1995 under the general category. Amongst others, the two important conditions of eligibility with which we are concerned in these cases are (i) that the applicant should be a resident of Faridabad District for a period of not less than 5 years immediately preceding the date of application, and (ii) that he/she should have a family income (as defined in the application form) of not more than Rs. 50,000/- in the last financial year i.e. 1989-90. The criteria of income as mentioned in the application form as also in the Manual for Selection of Dealers and Distributors for the relevant year reads as under :-

"Income (For all categories)The candidates income should not be more than Rs. 50,000/- per annum. The income for this purpose would include income of the candidate, his/her spouse, dependent children put together. In case the candidate happens to be dependent on his/her parents, then his/her parents income would also be taken into consideration for computing the total income."Raj Rishi Gupta, Smt. Anita Singhal and Dinesh K. Sharma (hereinafter referred to as Gupta, Singhal and Sharma respectively) and many others submitted their applications on prescribed form within the stipulated period. Gupta claiming himself to be an unemployed graduate and a dependent upon his parents stated in his application that his total income from interest was Rs. 6,000/ - and that of his father Shri R.D. Gupta was Rs. 40,000/-. Since the total of his income and that of his father was less than Rs. 50,000/- he filed an affidavit along with his application supporting this averment. Singhal stated in the application that her total gross income was Rs. 20,074.95 and that her husband Sri G.S. Singhal was Rs. 27,605.65 the total of which was less than Rs. 50,000/- and, therefore, she too filed an affidavit to this effect. As it later transpired the details of her income as is clear from the computation of taxable income for the assessment year 1990-91 are that she had a professional income of Rs. 10,100/-. She also received bank interest and dividend of Rs. 234.95 and she also received interest from various parties to the tune of Rs. 16,780/-. She claimed that she paid an amount of Rs. 7040/ - as interest to two parties as mentioned in the computation of her income. She then deducted this amount from Rs. 16,780/- and claimed that the total interest income received by her was Rs. 9740/-. It was, thus, claimed by her that her gross income was only Rs. 20,074.95/-. When it came to computing her husbands income it is shown that the gross income that he received during the relevant accounting year was Rs. 21,973/and since he paid a sum of Rs. 6775/- as office rent he deducted his amount from his receipts. Again a sum of Rs. 12,407.65 has been shown to have been received by Singhals husband as interest from different sources. The total gross income is then shown as Rs. 27,605.65 after deducting the office rent as already stated above.

3 The Oil Selection Board constituted for the State of Haryana (hereinafter called, the Board) which is entrusted with the selection of dealer