Plea to appoint special squad to stop unfair practices at bunks

The High Court, on Tuesday, had sent notices to Secretaries of Union Petroleum Department and State Home Department. Petitioner, Muthukumar, a lawyer from Madurai, in his PIL, had stated that in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry there are 4,850 petrol bunks and the private retailers are obtaining fuel from the petroleum companies and are selling to the people.  

However, the petrol bunks are involved in several fraudulent activities, including providing lesser fuel by cheating with the help of chip based devices, showing wrong quantity of fuel filled, by holding some fuel at the last minute at the end of the petrol pipes. 

Also, the pipes carrying petrol are dark and so people could not guess whether the fuel is supplied through the pipes. Also, it is difficult to find out if there is any leakage problem which could end up in an accident. So, the petrol bunks should be directed to use transparent pipes. 

Facilities like drinking water, toilets and space to sit in the petrol bunks are not available. Uttar Pradesh government had appointed a special flying squad to check the fraudulent activities in petrol bunks and similarly the court should direct the state government to appoint a flying squad to check the unfair practices at the petrol stations, prayed the petitioner. 

When the petition was heard by the judges, KK Sasidharan and GR Swaminathan, they had sent notice to Secretaries, Union Petroleum Department and also to the state Home Department. 

The court also directed the Joint Chief Controller of PESO, Tamil Nadu, to file a counter affidavit for the petition and adjourned the case to September 18.