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Tuesday
August 13, 2002
1720 IST

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Courts step in to protect genuine allottees

The Jaipur bench of the Rajasthan high court on Tuesday stayed the Centre's omnibus notification cancelling all petrol pump and LPG dealership allotments made from the year 2000 onwards.

The order followed close on the heels a Delhi high court order staying the cancellation of two dealerships and issuing notices to the government on revocation of more than 3,000 other allotments.

Justice K S Rathore, hearing a bunch of petitions, directed that "no allotment would be cancelled in Rajasthan without giving proper hearing to the allottees."

The Rajasthan high court had on August 9 directed the Union government and petroleum companies to take "no steps adverse to their [allottees'] interest without giving [them] an opportunity of hearing."

The Delhi high court order came on separate petitions filed by Bhan Singh Rathour, a former soldier, and Radhika Backliwal, a housewife.

Justice Manmohan Sarin ordered "status quo in respect of the two petitioners" and sought replies from the government by September 6 on the other cancellations.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had cancelled all allotments of petrol pumps and gas agencies made after the year 2000 following a series of investigative reports by The Indian Express newspaper showing that people with political connections were unduly favoured.

Rathour was allotted a cooking gas agency in Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh in November 2001. He contended that he does not belong to a political party.

Backliwal too told that court that she was not connected to any political party and was allotted a petrol pump in the Wazirpur area of west Delhi in June 2001 in the open general category.

PTI

The petrol pump row: Complete coverage

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