IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA

Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.13810 of 2019

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Savita Sinha, W/o Manikant Sinha, Resident of Shivgadh, Datiyana P.S.-

Bikram, District- Patna.

... ... Petitioner

Versus

1.

The Indian Oil Corporation through its Chairman.

2.

The Head of Divisional Office, Indian Oil Corporation Patna Divisional

Office 3A, Mauryalok Complex, 3rd Floor, Bailey Road, Patna.

... ... Respondents

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Appearance :

For the Petitioner

:

Mr. Prashant Sinha, Advocate

Mr. Rohan Verma, Advocate

For the Respondents-I.O.C.:

Mr. Piyush Kumar Singh, Advocate

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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ASHWANI KUMAR SINGH

and

HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SHAILENDRA SINGH

ORAL JUDGMENT

(Per: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ASHWANI KUMAR SINGH)

Date : 25-07-2022

Heard Mr. Prashant Sinha, learned counsel for the

petitioner and Mr. Piyush Kumar Singh, learned counsel for the

respondent-Indian Oil Corporation.

2.

In the present application, the petitioner has made

the following prayers:-

(i) For issuance of writ in the nature of certiorari

for quashing of the communication made through

E-mail dated 16.05.2019 sent by the Head of

Divisional Office, Patna, Divisional Office of

Indian Oil Corporation whereby the candidature of

the petitioner for allotment of retail outlet

dealership has been rejected.

Patna High Court CWJC No.13810 of 2019 dt.25-07-2022

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(ii) For necessary direction upon the respondent

authorities to allot the retail outlet dealership to the

petitioner in terms of her application form

no.15456547804201, within 3 km from intersection

of SH-2 and NH-98 at Bikram towards

Mahabalipur on NH-98 in district of Patna as the

petitioner has fulfilled all the requirements for

being awarded for retail outlet dealership but for

the non-est reason, the respondent authorities have

rejected the candidature of the petitioner.

(iii) For restraining the respondent from allotting

the retail outlet to anybody else during the

pendency of this writ application.

(iv) For any other direction, which your Lordships

may deem fit and proper in the facts and

circumstances of the case.

3.

In brief, the case of the petitioner is that the

respondent-Indian Oil Corporation had issued an online

advertisement on 25^th November, 2018 for appointment of Retail

Outlet Dealership in the State of Bihar. The closing date of

application was 24^th December, 2019. One of the locations for

the dealership was in the district of Patna within 3 km from

intersection of SH-2 and NH-98 at Bikram towards Mahabalipur

on NH-98. Subsequently, on 16.05.2019, the petitioner received

an e-mail whereby she was communicated that her application

for retail Outlet Dealership has been rejected on the basis of

Patna High Court CWJC No.13810 of 2019 dt.25-07-2022

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document submitted by her.

4.

Being aggrieved by the aforesaid communication

dated 16.05.2019, the petitioner has filed the present

application.

5.

Mr. Prashant Sinha, learned counsel for the

petitioner submitted that the communication made by the

respondent-Indian Oil Corporation is bad due to the reason that

it is a non-speaking order. He submitted that on inquiry, the

petitioner was communicated that there is an error in writing the

PAN number in the application form of her candidature. He

submitted that on verification, the petitioner found that she had

written ‘T’ instead of ‘P’ while writing her PAN Number and

due to this inadvertent typographical error, the respondents have

arbitrarily rejected the application of the petitioner.

6.

A counter affidavit has been filed on behalf of the

respondent-Indian Oil Corporation wherein it is stated that the

application of the petitioner under the open category was

rejected through the impugned e-mail