IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE NAGESH BHEEMAPAKA WRIT PETITION No. 2891 OF 2026

21.04.2026 Between:

SK Enterprises & Traders, A registered partnership Firm Rep. by its Partner Mr. Kranthi Kumar Perelli ….. Petitioner And Union of India, Represented by its Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, New Delhi & another ….. Respondents

O R D E R:

Petitioner is a partnership firm incorporated on

21.10.2017 and has since then been engaged in the business of transportation, including transportation of petroleum, oil, lubricants and other related products. They participated in the tender floated on 14-05-2025 by Respondent No.2, a public sector undertaking and subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, for ‘Transportation of Bulk POL products MS HSD and branded fuels by road ex HPCL Secunderabad Terminal’. Petitioner participated in the said tender under the Scheduled Caste (SC) category and all the partners of the Petitioner firm belong to the SC category. The bid submitted by them was accepted by Respondent No.2 after due verification and a provisional Letter of Acceptance dated 21-08-2025 was issued in their favour for 11 Tank Trucks. Pursuant thereto, Petitioner deposited Rs.1,85,000/- towards security deposit and the said Tank Trucks were inducted in October, 2025 and were utilized by Respondent No.2 for transportation work. Petitioner also made substantial investment in modifying the Tank Trucks to suit the requirements of Respondent No.2.

1.1. The contention of petitioner is that on 24-11-2025, Respondent No.2 addressed an e mail to Petitioner stating that it had received a communication from Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited to the effect that Tank Truck bearing No. AP39VB3863 belonging to Petitioner was under contract with BPCL at Krishnapatnam and called upon them to furnish an unconditional ‘No Objection Certificate’ in respect of the said vehicle, failing which action would be taken as per the tender terms and conditions. Petitioner, on the very same day ie. 24-11-2025, responded to the said communication requesting for two weeks to resolve the issue, explaining that the vehicle owner was facing issues relating to loan closure and RC name transfer which were expected to be resolved shortly.

1.2. Thereafter, Respondent No.2 issued a show cause notice dated 12-12-2025 alleging that Petitioner had submitted false information and failed to submit the required declaration regarding Tank Truck bearing No. AP39VB3863 being engaged in the service of another Oil Marketing Company. Petitioner submitted a detailed reply dated 16-12-2025 to the said show cause notice informing Respondent No.2 that they had obtained ‘No Objection Certificate’ from BPCL and that the same had been submitted along with the tender documents, and further stating that efforts were being made to replace the said vehicle in the BPCL terminal.

1.3. In the meanwhile, BPCL had issued a show cause notice dated 12-11-2025 alleging non-reporting of Tank Truck No. AP39VB3863, and in response, Petitioner arranged for a replacement vehicle of 20 KL capacity, which was not accepted by BPCL as it was of higher capacity, and thereafter arranged another replacement vehicle of 14 KL capacity bearing No. TG08US341, which was ready and only final formalities were pending. Petitioner had also obtained a conditional No Objection Certificate dated 26-03-2025 from BPCL and sent reply dated

28-11-2025 through its partner Mr. N. Siddhaiah to BPCL in response to the show cause notice issued by BPCL.

1.4. It is stated, one of the partners of Petitioner firm, namely Mr. N. Siddhaiah, filed Writ Petition No. 36211 of 2025 before the High Court of Andhra Pradesh challenging the show cause notice issued by HPCL and seeking issuance of a clear ‘No Objection Certificate’ or in the alternative, cancellation of the contract insofar as Tank Truck No. AP39VB3863 is concerned, and by order dated 26-12-2025, the Court directed BPCL to pass