DURGA OIL COMPANY versus STATE OF U.P. AND ORS.

Citation: [1998] 3 S.C.R. 922 · Decided: 29-07-1998 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: G.B. PATTANAIK · Disposal: Dismissed

Cited by 1 judgment(s) · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

A 
DURGA OIL COMPANY 
v. 
STATE OF U.P. AND ORS. 
JULY 29, 1998 
B 
[G.B. PATTANAIK AND A.P. MISRA, JJ.] 
Petroleum Act, 1934 : 
Rules 2(vii), (xii) & (xxii) First Schedule and Forms XI & XII-Dealer 
C stored petroleum Class B (High Speed Diesel) in underground tank and sold 
the same by using a pumping unit-Dealer held licence in Form XI-Held: 
Holder of licence in Form XI, which is meant for importing and storing 
petroleum class B otherwise than in bulk, not entitled to do so-Licence in 
Form XII necessary for that purpose-Dealer's plea of purposive interpretation 
D to hold otherwise, rejected-Interpretation of Statutes. 
The appellant filed a writ petition before the High Court challenging the 
order of the District Supply Officer calling upon the appellant to stop using 
the underground tank and dispensing pump unit on the ground that there was 
no embargo either under the Petroleum Act, 1934 and the Rules framed 
E thereunder or in the licence in Form XI not to sell High Speed Diesel by 
using the underground tank and the pump unit attached to the same. The 
High Court dismissed the writ petition. Hence this appeal. 
Dismissing the appeal, this Court 
F 
HELD : 1.1. In view of Rules 2 (vii), (xii) and (xxii) First Schedule 
framed under the Petroleum Act, 1934, Form XI can be held to be meant for 
importing and storing petroleum Class B otherwise than in bulk of a total 
quantity not exceeding 25,000 litres. In other words, the holder of a licence 
in Form XI can store petroleum Class B in different containers each of which 
G would not exceed 1,000 litres. When such licensee stores the petroleum 
Class B in a tank meaning thereby in excess of 1,000 litters, then it would 
be a case of storage of petroleum in bulk and for such storage licence is 
required to be obtained in Form XII and the authority empowered to grant 
such licence is the Chief Controller or a Controller of Explosives authorised 
in this behalf by the Chief Controller. Since the appellant did not posses the 
H licence in Form XII, it was not entitled to store the High Speed Diesel in an 
922 
DURGA OIL CO. v. STATE [G.B. PATTANAIK, J.) 
923 
underground tank and sell from the same by using a pump unit (927-C-E) A 
1.2, The appellant's plea for adopting purposive interpretation keeping 
in view the purpose and object of the Act and Rules, viz., the safety measures, 
it is possible to hold that High Speed Diesel can be stored in an underground 
tank which is the safest mode of storage, cannot be accepted. The Act or the 
Rules do not prohibit storage' of High Speed Diesel in quantity more than B 
1,000 litres in an underground tank but what is necessary in such a case is 
that the licence has to be obtained in Form XII from the Chief Controller. 
-; 
(927-H; 928-A-B] 
Forest Range Officer v. P. Mohammed Ali, (1993) 3 Supp. SCC 627, 
referred to. 
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 3524 of 
1998. 
From the Judgment and Order dated 2.9.97 of the Allahabad High Court 
in C.M.W.P. No. 28539of1998. 
Sudhir Chandra, Subodh Kumar, Ms. Mamta Gupta and A.K. Gupta-II 
~ 
for the Appellants. 
c 
D 
Rakesh Dwivedi, P. Choudhary, Harendra Johari, N.S. Bisht, Irshad 
Ahmad, (A.K. Goel) (AG for the State ofU.P.), C.D. Singh and A.K. Srivastava E 
for the Respondents. 
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by 
G.8. PATTANAIK, J. Leave granted. 
This appeal by grant of Special Leave is directed against the judgment F 
dated 2nd September, 1997, of the Allahabad High Court in Civil Misc. Writ 
Petition No. 28539of1997. The Writ Petition had been filed by the appellant 
challenging the Order dated 14th August, 1997 passed by the District Supply 
Officer, Shahjahanpur calling upon the appellant to stop using the underground 
tank and dispensing pump unit inter alia on the ground that there is no G 
embargo either under he provisions of the Petroleum Act and the Rules 
framed thereunder or in the licence in form XI which had been granted to the 
appellant under the Petroleum Rules not to sell High speed Diesel by using 
the underground tank and the pump unit attached to the same. The High 
Court by the impugned judgment considered the different provisions of the 
Act and the Rules as well as the Forms, more particularly, Forms XI and XII H 
924 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[1998] 3 S.C.R. 
A and came to hold that a licensee under Form XI is not entitled to store High 
Speed Diesel in an underground tank and sale from the same by using a pump 
./ 
unit. Wit

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