HPCL following repealed law to make scheme: Plea in HC
New Delhi: A plea in the Delhi High Court has claimed that state-run oil company Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) was still following repealed law to make scheme for allotting dealerships to disabled.
The plea said that the oil-PSU was adhering to the older Persons with Disabilities Act of 1995 which has been repealed and replaced by the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
The claim has been made in the petition moved by a woman, who suffers from 75 per cent visual impairment, seeking directions to the Centre and HPCL to create reservations for disabled persons in allotment of petrol retail outlets or dealerships according to the 2016 Act.
In her petition, filed through advocate Sanjay Kumar Singh, the woman has challenged a December 2020 order of the office of the Chief Commissioner set up under Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 which did not find any fault in HPCL's scheme or manner of allotment of retail outlets for disabled persons indicated in its November 2018 advertisement.
The Chief Commissioner, while finding no fault with the allotment scheme, also suggested to HPCL to revise its policy in line with the 2016 Act instead of basing it on the repealed statute, the petition claimed.
The plea also seeks setting aside of the allotment made pursuant to the 2018 advertisement on the ground that it was based on the repealed Act.
"The percentage of reservation for the physically handicapped category practised by the respondent company on the basis of the advertisement brought out by it dated November 25, 2018 is not what it is required to be," the plea contended.
The woman claimed that she had applied for a dealership in 2018 and whenever she enquired about the status of her application, she was told that the selection process was underway.
Thereafter, in June last year, she sent a representation to HPCL enquiring about the status of her application and she was informed in July last year that the process was still underway.
Subsequently, she filed a complaint in August 2020 before the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities and in response to the same, the company said that the selection process was completed in February 2019, the petition claimed.
Then in December 2020, in an additional reply filed by the company it indicated that it was following the 1995 Act for making schemes to allot dealerships to disabled persons, the petition said and added that the office of Chief Commissioner did not permit the petitioner to further argue on this point and passed the order affirming HPCL's allotment process.