BHAGWAN DASS AND ANR. v. KAMAL ABROL AND ORS

Citation: [2005] SUPP. 1 S.C.R. 342

Court: Supreme Court of India

Bench: R.C. LAHOTI, G.P. MATHUR, P.P. NAOLEKAR

Case summary

BHAGWAN DASS AND ANR. v. KAMAL ABROL AND ORS.pdf

Judgment text

BHAGWAN DASS AND ANR. v. KAMAL ABROL AND ORS. MAY 11, 2005 [R. C. LAHOTI, CJ. , G. P. MATHUR AND P. P. NAOLEKAR, JJ. ] Public Distribution: Allotment of LPG dealership-Eligibility criterion of 're. sidence '-De facto residence or de jure residence-:-Held, candidate was to fulfill eligibility criterion ofresidence, i. ~.. it should be de factn residence and not merely a connection with the place on account oFcandidate's husband having some personal and ancestral property in the regfonconcerned-Administrative Law. Words and. Phrases: .. 'Residence '-Meaning of Respondent No. 3, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, invited ' applications ftom residents of Kangra District in Himachal Pradesh, for allotment of dealership/distributorship for Liquid Petroleum Gas.

Various candidates including appellants an ~ordinarily residi11g at a particular place has to have an intention to stay at that place for a considerable length of' time and it would not include a visit of short or casual presence at that place. From the aforesaid analysis it is apparent that the word 'residence' is generally understood as referring to a person in connection with the place where he lives, and may be defined as one who resides in a place or one who dwells in a place for a considerable period of time as distinguished from one who merely works in a certain locality or comes casually for a visit and the place of work or the place of casual visit are diff~rent from the place of 'residence'. There are two classifications of the:imeaning of the word . - 'residence'. First is in the form of permanent and temporary residence and the second classification is based on de facto and dejure residence.

The de facto concept of residence can also be understood clearly by the meaning of the word 'residence' as given in the Black Law Dictionary, 8th Edition. It is given that the word residence means bodily presence as an inhabitant in given place. Thus de facto residence is also to be understood as the place where one regularly resides as different to the places where he is connected to by mere ancestral connections or political connections or connection by marriage. In the present case, the necessary eligibility criterion requires the applicant to be a resident of Kangra district. The- advertisement inviting the applications has not defined the same and hence it would be necessary to see the intention of the framers of the eligibility criteria to understand the true meaning or the sense for which the word 'resident' is used or as to why the criteria of resident is put as an eligibility criteria for allotment of LPG.

In the present case the intention of the framers appears to be to provide employment or source of earning for the residents of the Kangra district in the form of LPG dealership/distributorship. The eligibility criterion requires the person to be a resident of Kangra district only in the actual sense and not in any other sense. What is required to fulfill the eligibility criteria of the residence is that the person should be a de facto residence and not to have the mere connection with the place on account of her husband having some personal and ancestral property in Kangra. There is no finding recorded by the Court that the husband of Respondent No. I is permanently residing at Kangra or has permanent } abode in Kangra. From the finding arrived at by the High Court it can be said that her husband having ancestral property in Kangra is a visitor to that place · and occasionally resides there for a few days. Respondent No.

I prima facie appears to be a permanent resident of Mandi, since her name appears in the voter's list of Mandi and that she has been drawing her ration from Mandi as per the case set up by the appellants. It is further clear that the intention of providing employment and source of earning to the residents of the place would be fulfilled only if the person is actually living in Kangra and not by his/her remote connection to the place. It may also be seen that another eligibility criteria is that the person should not be a partner or having any dealership or distributorship agency in any petroleum company and, therefore, the dealership/distributorship has to be allotted to the person who does not hold any other dealership/distributorship agency of any other petroleum company.

This term indicates that the corporation wants that the dealership at a particular place have to be handled by that person, which would necessarily require the personal presence of that person at the place of business. The notice of intent issued to the respondent no. I on March 3, I988 further clarifies this requirement when it says that the dealer i_~ to be a full time working dealer which necessitates the permanent residence at a place for which the dealership license is given. When the agency requires fu! Itime working dealer it would be only possible if the person actually resides in Kangra district and not working through agent or servants engaged for the said puq)ose. This further indicates that the dealer is required to be a de facto resident of the place from where the dealership license is to be issued and it is not permissible to have casual connection or temporary residence at that place.

For the aforesaid reasons we are of the view that the High Court has committed an error in construing the term 'resident of Kangra District' does not require a person to be a permanent resident of that place and his casual connection to the district would fulfill the necessary mandatory criteria provided in the ad. notice. As the approach of the High Court in deciding the second appeal against the appellant was based on its interpretation of the criterion ofresidence and as we have taken a different view of the matter, we set aside the judgment and decree passed by the High Court and remand the matter back to the Court for fresh consideration of the appeals in the light of interpretation given by us to the term 'resident of Kangra'. The appeals are disposed of accordingly with no order as to costs. R. P. Appeal disposed of.