A Division Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday reversed a single judge’s decision that a husband and wife living under one roof could possess only one Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) connection in either of their names and not two separate connections as held by many families.
The Bench comprising Justice Chitra Venkataraman and Justice M. Duraiswamy said that a notification issued by the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on August 3, 1993, prohibits a consumer from holding two connections. The expression ‘consumer’ would mean only an individual, not a family or a couple.
The judges rejected the contention that permitting more than one connection for a family would result in the misuse of LPG cylinders. It was for the officials concerned to effectively implement the checks and balances on the use of subsidised supply of gas by invoking the penal provisions under the Essential Commodities Act, they said.
The judgement was passed in a writ appeal filed in the High Court Bench here by M. Mariappan of Madurai. He had moved the court against the Indian Oil Corporation’s move to cancel a gas connection held by him since 1976 on the ground that his wife was also holding a separate connection.
A single judge of the High Court dismissed his writ petition on November 11, 2008. The judge had suggested that the petitioner could surrender one of the connections held by his family and obtain an additional cylinder in the other connection. However, Mr. Mariappan chose to challenge the order through a writ appeal.
Contesting the appeal, the IOC’s counsel argued that it was illegal to possess two LPG connections in a single household. The Centre was granting a heavy subsidy on distribution of domestic gas through the public distribution system. Hence, permitting multiple connections would lead to misuse of cylinders for commercial purposes.
The judges said that the possibility of misuse could not be a ground to deny two connections for a household especially when the 1993 notification of the Union Ministry defined a consumer as a person, firm, company or institution. The definition did not include a family or a couple living under one roof.
