The Centre has informed the Delhi High Court that it is considering granting quota in LPG distributorship to kerosene dealers, who had to shut their dealership in the wake of the ‘kerosene-free Delhi’ scheme for complete switchover to cooking gas, and sought time to decide the percentage of quota.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas told a bench of Justice Manmohan that it is considering giving quota to the Superior Kerosene Oil (SKO) dealers while inviting bids for LPG distributorship.
It, however, said since the matter is still being mulled over, it cannot make any announcements yet and more so because the code of conduct would come into effect in near future.
The High Court had in January asked the government and the oil PSUs to consider quota for SKO dealers after the Petroleum Dealers’ Association through advocate Shashi Shanker moved a petition saying under the government’s move to switch from kerosene to LPG, they have lost their livelihood and their fundamental right has been affected and therefore, they should be given preference in giving LPG distributorship.
They have been saying that the State is under the constitutional obligation to provide them an alternate source of income as they have lost their source of income due to its policy.
The oil PSUs -- Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd -- also sought more time.
The Bench fixed the matter for July 31 on the assurance of the Centre.
During the hearing, the court also asked the Centre to at least give quota to economically weaker SKO dealers.
On the last hearing, the court had asked the Centre to consider giving 10-15 per cent quota to the kerosene dealers saying they were a separate class in themselves.
