Dhaneshwar Prasad Sahu v. State of Chhattisgarh

For Petitioner For Respondents No.1 & 2 : Mr. Rahul Tamaskar, Government Advocate and Mr. : Mr. Ratnesh Kumar Agrawal, Advocate. For Respondent No.3 : Mr. Kabeer Kalwani, Advocate on behalf of Mr. Pranjal Shukla, Panel Lawyer. Anurag Singh, Advocate, Single Bench:- Hon'ble Shri Justice Sanjay K. Agrawal Order on Board 13/05/2026

1. Invoking the extraordinary jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has called in question legality, validity and correctness of order dated 14-7-2020 passed by (WPS No.1707/2020) the Commissioner, Bilaspur Division, Bilaspur in Revenue Revision No.36/B-127/2019-2020, by which the No Objection Certificate dated 12-3-2020 issued by the Collector, Janjgir-Champa under Rule 144(1) of the Petroleum Rules, 2002 (for short, ‘the Petroleum Rules’) has been stayed by the Commissioner.

2. The aforesaid challenge has been made on the following factual backdrop: -

3. The petitioner obtained No Objection Certificate (NOC) under Rule 144(1) of the Petroleum Rules for running a petrol pump at Village Hasoud, District Janjgir-Champa and for which he was issued the said NOC on 12-3-2020 by the Collector (Food Branch), Janjgir- Champa. Respondent No.3 herein – Objector filed revision petition under Section 50 of the Chhattisgarh Land Revenue Code, 1959 (for short, ‘the Code’) before the Commissioner, Bilaspur Division, Bilaspur, questioning the NOC dated 12-3-2020 and the Commissioner by the impugned order dated 14-7-2020, stayed the effect and operation of the NOC dated 12-3-2020 leading to filing of this writ petition.

4. Mr. Ratnesh Kumar Agrawal, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner herein, would submit that the Commissioner has no jurisdiction to exercise the power under Section 50 of the Code to stay the NOC issued by the Collector in exercise of power under Rule 144(1) of the Petroleum Rules, which can be cancelled only by the District Authority/District Magistrate in exercise of power under (WPS No.1707/2020) Rule 150(1) of the Petroleum Rules and therefore the impugned order is liable to be set aside.

5. Mr. Rahul Tamaskar, learned State counsel appearing on behalf of respondents No.1 & 2, would support the impugned order and oppose the writ petition.

6. Mr. Kabeer Kalwani, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Objector/respondent No.3 herein, would also support the impugned order and oppose the writ petition and submit that the impugned order has rightly been passed.

7. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and considered their rival submissions made herein-above and also gone through the record with utmost circumspection.

8. Rule 144(1) of the Petroleum Rules provides for No Objection Certificate, which states as under: - “144. No-objection certificate.—(1) Where the licensing authority is the Chief Controller or the Controller, as the case may be, an applicant for a new licence other than a licence in Forms III, XI, XVII, XVIII or XIX shall apply to the District Authority with two copies of the site-plan showing the location of the premises proposed to be licensed for a certificate to the effect that there is no objection, to the applicant receiving a licence for the site proposed and the District Authority shall, if he sees no objection, grant such certificate in the proforma specified in sub-rule (7) to the applicant who shall forward it to the licensing authority with his application Form IX. Note:— The licensing authority shall accept the no objection certificate within a period of three years from the date of its issue for considering grant of licence.” (WPS No.1707/2020)

9. A careful perusal of the aforesaid provision would show that power has been conferred to grant NOC for new license for running a petrol pump to the District Authority and for granting license to the concerned applicant and it will be forwarded to the licensing authority.

10. The term “District Authority” has been defined in Section 2(1)(x) of the Petroleum Rules as under: - “(x) “District Authority” means— (a) in towns having a Commissioner of Police, the Commissioner or a Deputy Commissioner of Police; (b) in any other place, the District Magistrate;”

11. Village Hasoud, District Janjgir-Champa, where the petrol pump of the petitioner is situate, is not the place where the Commissioner of Police or a Deputy Commissioner of Police will sit, therefore, it will be the District Magistrate who will be the District Authority. Accordingly, the District Magistrate is the authority to issue NOC after making enquiry and thereafter, the power to cancel the NOC issued under Rule 144(1) of the Petroleum Rules has been conferred to the District Authority under Rule 150 of the Petroleum Rules, which states as under: - “150. Cancellation of no-objection certificate.—(1) A no-objection certificate granted under rule 144 shall be liable to be cancelled by the District Authority or the State Government, if the District Authority or the State Government is satisfied, that the licensee has ceased to have any right to use the site for storing petroleum: (WPS No.1707/2020) Provided that before cancelling a no-objection certificate, the licensee shall be given a reasonable opportunity of being heard. (2) xxx xxx”

12.A careful perusal of Rule 150(1) of the Petroleum Rules would show that a no objection certificate granted under Rule 144 shall be liable to be cancelled by the District Authority or the State Government, if the District Authority or the State Government is satisfied, that the licensee has ceased to have any right to use the site for storing petroleum by stating the reasons to be recorded in writing.

13.Coming to the facts of the present case, since the power has been conferred to the District Authority to cancel the No Objection Certificate already issued, in the instant case to the District Magistrate, as per Rule 2(1)(x)(b) of the Petroleum Rules, the Commissioner, Bilaspur Division, Bilaspur has no power and jurisdiction to entertain the revision against the order granting no objection certificate under Rule 144(1) of the Petroleum Rules. The learned Government Advocate could not point out any other power and jurisdiction having been conferred to the Commissioner, Bilaspur Division, Bilaspur to be exercised against the order granting no objection certificate and to cancel/stay the No Objection Certificate issued under Rule 144 of the Petroleum Rules.

14.In that view of the matter, the impugned order dated 14-7-2020 passed by the Commissioner, Bilaspur Division, Bilaspur in Revenue Revision No.36/B-127/2019-2020 in exercise of power under Section (WPS No.1707/2020) 50 of the Code staying the effect and operation of the NOC issued by the Collector (Food Branch), Janjgir-Champa is without jurisdiction and without authority of law and is hereby quashed.

15.Accordingly, the writ petition is allowed to the extent indicated herein-above. No order as to cost(s). Soma Sd/- (Sanjay K. Agrawal) Judge