The Madras high court has issued notices to top oil companies on a public interest writ petition alleging several serious irregularities in the supply chain of LPG connection for domestic purposes.
The first bench comprising Chief Justice MY Eqbal and Justice TS Sivagnanam issued notices returnable in two weeks after counsel Narmadha Sampath submitted that oil companies insisted on 21-day gap for each refill of LPG cylinders and their agencies too insisted that the new consumers buy some other products if they were to be allotted a LPG connection.
The PIL, filed by the Coimbatore Consumer Voice, further contended that though as per the code of practice a consumer must get a refill within three days of preparation of bill, in reality it took 20 days for households to get refill. Agencies either ignore calls or make a false claim that no one was at home when the cylinder reached households, it said, adding that a Coimbatore-based LPG gas agency compelled consumers to purchase tube light, lighter, stove and cooker, along with gas cylinders.
Claiming that no action was taken against the erring agencies even if specific complaints were lodged, the petitioner-forum said it had submitted two representations on July 27 and August 20. Noting that no action was taken on these complaints, the petitioner said the court must direct the respondent-oil companies dispose of the representations in accordance with law.
The petitioner further submitted that though the district collectors were vested with the power to fix a uniform sum as delivery charges to be paid by consumers, the officials do not perform their duty in this regard.
Oil companies, on their part, have miserably failed to take action against agencies/dealers who breach the code of conduct, the petitioner said, adding that documents obtained by him through the Right To Information (RTI) Act revealed that several mandatory provisions of law were being violated by the oil firms.
When the matter is taken up for further hearing next, oil majors including HPCL, IOC and BPCL will file their counter-affidavits.
