- 1 - HC-KAR NC: 2025:KHC:38675 WP No. 3977 of 2018 IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU DATED THIS THE 25TH DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 2025 BEFORE THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE R. NATARAJ WRIT PETITION NO. 3977 OF 2018 (GM-RES) BETWEEN: K.M. VEENA W/O. N.C. GIRISHA, AGED ABOUT 30 YEARS, R/AT NO.330, BEHIND SRI. BYTARAYASWAMY TEMPLE ROAD, NONAVINAKERE, TIPTUR TALUK, TUMKUR DISTRICT-572 224. …PETITIONER (BY SRI. ANANTHA KASHYAP H.K., ADVOCATE) AND: 1. UNION OF INDIA REPRESENTED BY ITS SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS, NEW DELHI-110001. 2. CHAIRMAN BANGALORE LPG TERRITORY, BHARAT PETROLEUM CORPORATION LTD., NO.17, DUPARC TRINITY, 7TH FLOOR, M.B. ROAD, BANGALORE-01. 3. TERRITORY MANAGER (LPG) BANGALORE, BANGALORE LPG TERRITORY, BHARAT PETROLEUM CORPORATION LTD., NO.17, DUPARC TRINITY, 7TH FLOOR, M.B. ROAD, BANGALORE-01. 4. VATSALA B.N. W/O. NEELENDRA MURTY, AGED ABOUT 35 YEARS, Digitally signed by SUMA Location: HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA - 2 - HC-KAR NC: 2025:KHC:38675 WP No. 3977 of 2018 R/AT KADUR, K.M. ROAD, KADUR TALUK, CHIKKMAGALURU DISTRICT-577548. …RESPONDENTS (BY SRI. GOWTHAMDEV C. ULLAL, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.1 SRI. N.J. KUMAR, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NOS.2 AND 3) THIS WP IS FILED UNDER ARTICLE 226 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA PRAYING TO QUASH ANNEXURE-A SELECTION LIST OF APPOINTED AS LPG DISTRIBUTOR TO NONAVINAKERE VILLAGE, THIPTUR TALUK, TUMKUR DISTRICT IN RESPECT OF THE 4TH RESPONDENT AT SERIAL NO. 178 IS CONCERN AND ETC. THIS PETITION, COMING ON FOR ORDERS, THIS DAY, ORDER WAS MADE THEREIN AS UNDER: CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE R. NATARAJ ORAL ORDER The petitioner has challenged the selection of respondent No.4 as LPG distributor at Nonavinakere village, Tiptur Taluk, Tumkur district. She has also sought for a writ in the nature of mandamus to direct the respondents to follow the procedure prescribed in Clause - 16 of the Brochure on Unified Guidelines for Selection of LPG Distributors-June, 2017 and to make fresh selection of LPG distributors. 2. (i) The petitioner contends that she and the respondent No.4 had applied for a LPG distributorship against the notification issued by the respondent Nos.2 and 3 at - 3 - HC-KAR NC: 2025:KHC:38675 WP No. 3977 of 2018 Nonavinakere village, Tiptur Taluk, Tumkur district. The said distributorship was reserved for woman. The respondent No.2 had published a brochure on unified guidelines for selection of LPG distributors on its website. (ii) The petitioner contends that the respondent Nos.2 and 3 did not conduct the draw of lots as mentioned in Clause - 16 of the brochure on unified guidelines and therefore the entire process was in violation of the procedure prescribed and hence the selection of respondent No.4 by draw of lots was illegal and therefore deserves to be set at nought. She has also sought for a selection afresh as per Clause – 16 of brochure on unified guidelines. 3. The learned counsel for the petitioner invited the attention of the Court to Clause - 16 of the guidelines which reads as follows: "16. PROCEDURE FOR DRAW OF LOTS: a. Information will be sent to the eligible candidates through email/SMS to report for draw of lots for selection of LPG Distributor at a specified venue, date and time. - 4 - HC-KAR NC: 2025:KHC:38675 WP No. 3977 of 2018 b. The notice with regard to the draw would be published before the date of draw in the same newspapers in which the advertisement for appointment of LPG Distributor was initially published. c. Attendance of all the applicants who have reported for draw, shall be recorded, after verifying their identity through a POI (Proof Of Identity - any one of the documents Passport, Driving License, Voters' Identity Card, PAN Card, Aadhaar Card issued by UIDAI or NREGA Job Card). Applicants should sign the attendance sheet. Draw of lots will be conducted in the presence of only available eligible candidates. However, there is no minimum quorum specified for conducting the draw of lots. d. Two officials of the concerned OMC will conduct the draw in the presence of the available candidates and the invited guest. e. The invited guest will be requested to initiate the process of draw of lots for a particular location. f. List of eligible applicants of the location selected for the draw, from whom the draw of lots shall be conducted will be displayed on the screen along with the serial number and the name of applicant. - 5 - HC-KAR NC: 2025:KHC:38675 WP No. 3977 of 2018 g. Successful candidate will be selected from amongst the eligible candidates on random basis. h. The application serial number and name of the successful candidate would be declared for the LPG distributorship for the location. i. The entire proceedings of the draw will be video graphed and the following information will be captured: i. List of eligible candidates with application numbers ii. The details of the successful candidate displayed on the screen and captured by the video camera with the serial number and name of the applicant. J. The result of the draw will be displayed on the notice board immediately after the draw of lots at the venue. It would also be hosted on the website of the respective Company and on web portal www.lpgvitarakchayan.in within 3 days from the date of draw." 4. He contends that there is no compliance of the procedure prescribed under Clause - 16 of brochure on unified guidelines for selection of LPG distributors but the respondents have adopted a wholly different procedure in selecting the - 6 - HC-KAR NC: 2025:KHC:38675 WP No. 3977 of 2018 respondent No.4 and therefore, the entire process is vitiated. He also submits that even as per the guidelines placed by the respondent Nos.2 and 3 before this Court which contemplates a different set of procedure, the respondent No.4 was admittedly not present at the time of draw of lots and therefore she could not have been entertained in the draw of lots. Thus, he contends that selection of respondent No.4 is based on other considerations and hence, the same is liable to be undone. 5. The respondents on the other hand submits that the brochure submitted by the petitioner along with the writ petition is not the latest one and that the latest is the one which is enclosed along with the statement of objections. The respondents have contended that procedure for draw of lots as per the latest brochure as on the date of the invitation was as follows: "16. PROCEDURE FOR DRAW OF LOTS: i. Information will be sent to the eligible candidates through email/SMS to report for draw of lots for selection of LPG Distributor at a specified venue, date and time. - 7 - HC-KAR NC: 2025:KHC:38675 WP No. 3977 of 2018 ii. The notice with regard to the draw would be published before the date of draw in the same news papers in which the advertisement for appointment of LPG Distributor was initially published. iii. Attendance of all the applicants who have reported for draw, shall be recorded, after verifying their identity through a POI (Proof Of Identity - any one of the documents Passport, Driving License, Voters' Identity Card, PAN Card, Aadhaar Card issued by UIDAI or NREGA Job Card). Applicants should sign the attendance sheet. Draw of lots will be conducted in the presence of only available eligible candidates. However, there is no minimum quorum specified for conducting the draw of lots. IV. Two officials of the concerned OMC will coordinate the computerized draw. NIC / MSTC Ltd. Officials will conduct the computerized draw, available candidates and the invited guest. v. The invited guest will be requested to initiate the process of computerized draw of lots for a particular location. - 8 - HC-KAR NC: 2025:KHC:38675 WP No. 3977 of 2018 vi. List of eligible applicants of the location selected for the draw, from whom the draw of lots shall be conducted will be displayed on the screen along with the serial number and the name of applicant. vii. Successful candidate will be selected from amongst the eligible candidates on random basis. viii. The application serial number and name of the successful candidate would be declared for the LPG distributorship for the location. ix. The entire proceedings of the draw will be video graphed and the following information will be captured: 1. List of eligible candidates with application numbers 2. The details of the successful candidate displayed on the screen and captured by the video camera with the serial number and name of the applicant. x. The result of the draw will be available on the website www.lpgvitarakchayan.in after the draw of lots. It would also be hosted on the website of the respective Company." - 9 - HC-KAR NC: 2025:KHC:38675 WP No. 3977 of 2018 6. It is thus contended by the respondents that the draw of lots is in accordance with procedure as prescribed and the respondent No.4 was successful in the draw of lots and accordingly the respondent No.4 was selected as a distributor. 7. The learned counsel for the respondents reiterated the above contentions and submitted that there is nothing amiss in the process and selection of respondent No.4. 8. I have considered the submissions of learned counsel for the petitioner as well as learned counsel for the respondent Nos.1 to 3. 9. This Court having noticed that Annexure – B produced by the petitioner and Annexure – R1 produced by the respondents with their statement of objections were the brochure on unified guidelines for selection of LPG distributors issued in June 2017. Therefore, this Court entertained a doubt as to how there could be two different clauses in the same brochure. Therefore this Court called upon the learned counsel for the respondent Nos.2 and 3 to secure instructions as to how there could be difference in procedure for draw of lots in the same guidelines. - 10 - HC-KAR NC: 2025:KHC:38675 WP No. 3977 of 2018 10. The learned counsel for the respondent Nos.2 and 3 has stated that the guidelines relied upon by the petitioner were the old guidelines and the new guidelines were the one which are enclosed along with the statement of objections. He also contends that the procedure adopted for selecting the respondent No.4 is in accordance with the new guidelines which are found at Annexure – R2 filed along with statement of objections. 11. At this stage, the learned counsel for the petitioner submits that even if the same is accepted, it is evident from Annexure –R2 that the respondent No.4 did not attend the draw of lots. He contends that as per procedure prescribed in Clause - 16 of the brochure on unified guidelines relied upon by the respondent Nos.2 and 3 it was incumbent upon the respondent No.4 to be present at the time of draw of lots. 12. A perusal of the Clause 16(3) of brochure on unified guidelines shows that the presence of those who attended the draw of lots had to be recorded after verifying their identity and they were required to sign the attendance sheet and draw of lots was to be conducted in the presence of - 11 - HC-KAR NC: 2025:KHC:38675 WP No. 3977 of 2018 only the available eligible candidates. There is no stipulation in this Clause that all those who had applied for LPG distributorship had to be personally present. 13. Clause 16(3) of brochure on unified guidelines only dealt with those applicants who attended the draw of lots and nothing else. Therefore the contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner that the respondent No.4 did not attend the draw of lots and therefore, her candidature could not have been considered, is without any basis. 14. In that view of the matter, petition lacks merit and is dismissed. 15. In view of dismissal of main petition, pending interlocutory applications if any, do no survive for consideration and the same stand rejected. Sd/- (R. NATARAJ) JUDGE HJ List No.: 1 Sl No.: 4