Cancelled petrol pump sanction can’t be given to next applicant in line

New Delhi: In any race, if the winner is disqualified, the one coming second gets the prize but not in the case of allotment of petrol pumps, the Supreme Court said while bringing down the curtain on the tainted allotment of retail outlets and kerosene and LPG dealerships during the NDA regime in 2001. It rejected the plea of those who were second in the list for allotment of dealerships by oil companies that they deserved to get the retail outlets after the initial allotments were cancelled on grounds of political nepotism.

In the wake of media reports in August 2001 about a huge scam in allotment of dealerships in petrol, kerosene and LPG, then PM A B Vajpayee had reviewed the cases and ordered cancellation of all allotments from January 1, 2000. However, the SC quashed the order of across-the-board cancellation except 413 tainted cases. Of these, 297 allotments were found vitiated by nepotism and were actually cancelled.