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2020 Supreme(P&H) 1166
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA
Anil Kshetarpal, J.
Chardikala Indane And Others - Appellant
Versus
Union Of India And Others - Respondent
Civil Writ Petition No. 12092 of 2020
Decided On : 01-09-2020
Puneet Gupta, Advocate
The quashing of a circular by a High Court renders it non-enforceable, and seeking implementation/enforcement of the quashed circular may be premature and not maintainable.
Headnote:
LPG Distributors - Marketing Restructuring - Unified guidelines for the selection of LPG Distributorship 2016, Circular dated 04.01.2018 - The judgment discusses the unified guidelines for the selection of LPG Distributorship 2016 and the circular dated 04.01.2018, which provided for migration/transfer of existing/old customers from old LPG Distributors to the new LPG Distributors enabling them to reach 50% of the refill ceiling of that market. The court analyzed the quashing of the circular by the High Court of Judicature at Bombay and its implications on the jurisdiction and maintainability of the writ petition.
Fact of the Case:
The writ petitioners, claiming to be new LPG Distributors, filed a writ petition seeking mandamus to transfer customers from existing distributors to them until they reach the refill sale viability level as per unified guidelines and circular dated 04.01.2018. The circular was challenged and quashed by the High Court of Judicature at Bombay, with a pending special leave petition and review application.
Finding of the Court:
The court dismissed the writ petition as premature, citing the quashing of the circular by the High Court of Judicature at Bombay and the pending special leave petition. It also noted the necessity of impleading the old/existing distributors as respondents and the lack of maintainability for seeking implementation/enforcement of the quashed circular.
Issues: Jurisdiction, maintainability, and enforceability of the quashed circular dated 04.01.2018.
Ratio Decidendi: The quashing of the circular by the High Court of Judicature at Bombay rendered the writ petition premature and not maintainable. Impleading the old/existing distributors as respondents was deemed necessary, and seeking implementation/enforcement of the quashed circular at this stage was not permissible.
Final Decision: The writ petition was dismissed as premature, with liberty to file a fresh writ petition after the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the pending special leave petition.
JUDGMENT
Anil Kshetarpal, J. - The writ petitioners, who claim to be the new LPG Distributors, have filed this writ petition under Article 226/227 of the Constitution of India for issuance of mandamus directing the respondents to transfer the customers\LPG consumers to them from the existing distributors till they reach the refill sale viability level i.e. 50% of the ceiling in terms of the unified guidelines for the selection of LPG Distributorship 2016 and as per the circular dated 04.01.2018 (Annexure P2).
2. In brief, the case of the writ petitioners is that they have been appointed as new LPG Distributors by the Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited. They pray that under the circular (Annexure P-2) while marketing restructuring, the existing customers of the old LPG Distributors have to be transferred to them till they reach the refill sale viability level i.e. 50% of the ceiling in terms of the unified guidelines for the selection of LPG Distributorship, 2016. At the outset, it must be noticed that the Government of India had approved the unified guidelines for the selection of LPG Distributorship on 23.06.2016. As per the unified guidelines under Clause 2.4.1.1 Market Ceiling and Refill Ceiling Limit as also refill sale per month for feasibility limit were defined and fixed. Clause 2.4.1.1. is extracted as under:
"2.4.1.1 ExistingMarketing
2.4.1.1.1 Market Ceiling
The market refill ceiling limit is the maximum number of the domestic refill sales stipulated for LPG and based on the market Market Ceiling Limit and the Feasibility Norm for different types of Distributorship Area is proposed below:
| Type of Distributorship area | Population as per census 2011 | Refill Ceiling limit per month | Refill sale per month for feasibility limit |
| Shehri Vitrak | Cities with population &>40 lakh | 20,000 | 10,000 |
| Cities with 20 to 40 lakh population | 12,000 | 7,500 | |
| Cities with 10 to 20 lakh population | 12,000 | 6,000 | |
|
| |||
| Rurban Vitrak | Towns with &<10 lakh population | 10,000 | 5,000 |
| Gramin Vitrak | Village/Cluster of villages | 5,000 | 2,500 |
| Durgam Khetriya Vitrak | Village/Cluster of villages | 1,500 | 600 |
Restructuring of the LPG Distributorships viz Sheheri Vitrak, Rurban Vitrak, Gramin Vitrak and Durgam Kshetriya Vitrak in the existing market will be planned only after the refill sale exceeds by 50 of the refill ceiling limit of the market.
Note:
I) The proposed refill ceiling limits for LPG Distributors will be applicable for all the LPG as defined above on prospective basis. However, the restructuring exercise for all the locations advertised prior to these guidelines will continue on the basis of the pre-revised ceiling limits.
ii) Existing Rural with refill ceiling limit of 8800 per month will not be restructured applying new ceiling limit criteria under this guidelines.
iii) All existing RGGLV Distributorship with monthly refill sale of more than I500 will be treated as Gramin Vitrak in accordance with these guideline sand with mandatory home delivery facility.
iv) All existing RGGLV Distributorships with monthly refill sale of less than 1500will be treated as Durgam Kshetriya Vitrak in accordance with this policy and without mandatory home delivery facility. However, as and when the monthly refill sale exceeds more than I500 they will be treated as Gramin Vitrak in accordance with this guidelines and with mandatory home delivery facility.
v) This policy subsumes the existing Distributorships selection guidelines under RGGLV.
vi) Durgam Kshetriya Vitrak with monthly refill sales beyond 1500will be treated as Gramin Vitrak with upper ceiling limit of 5000 per month with mandatory home delivery of refills. Direct allotment of LPG Distributorships to State Government agencies in Durgam Areas".
3. Lea
