The high court issued the order in a PIL seeking a probe into the illegal sale of petrol and diesel across the borders between Yanam and AP.
File photo of a fuel filling station in Yanam. (Facebook)
The Andhra Pradesh High Court asked Oil Marketing Companies (OMC) to keep on hold the establishment of 11 petroleum retail outlets in Yanam in the Union Territory of Puducherry, on Tuesday 17 October.
The high court issued the order in a PIL, filed by one Ponnada Sree, seeking a probe by the CBI into the illegal sale of petrol and diesel across the borders between Yanam and Andhra Pradesh.
The OMCs which gave the notification for setting up of retail outlets in Yanam were: Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum.
The petitioner’s counsel KS Murthy alleged that due to a huge price difference between the petroleum products in Andhra Pradesh and Yanam, the thriving illegal sale of fuel in Andhra Pradesh, sourced from Yanam, was causing a huge revenue loss to the Andhra Pradesh state exchequer.
The demand for petroleum products is quite high in the districts of Andhra Pradesh that surround Yanam because of the presence of a number of industries. They require fuel in kilo litres on a day-to-day basis.
According to the petitioner, the modus operandi is that the petroleum and diesel meant for Yanam, purchased from the bulk sale points in Andhra Pradesh, were being sold in Andhra Pradesh itself without being taken to Yanam where they were supposed to be sold.
The petitioner explained a difference of ₹15.4 per litre of petrol and ₹13.29 per litre of diesel in Andhra Pradesh and Yanam.
One litre of petrol costs ₹112.22 in Andhra Pradesh, it is sold at ₹96.82 per litre in Yanam as taxes are less since it is a UT. Similarly, diesel is sold at ₹99.88 per litre in Andhra Pradesh while its price in Yanam is ₹86.40.
The petitioner said that on average 5.5 lakh litres of petroleum products were sold in Yanam and to say it was meant for use in Yanam was highly improbable as there was no way there could be such high demand in such a small town of 69,375 population.
He also pointed out that an investigation officer had found that in one station, 1,972 litres of petrol were sold in three minutes. The illegal sale of fuel in Andhra Pradesh meant for Yanam has been going on since 2018, he claimed.
The PIL said that the government officials who had to check this practice remained negligent because the illegal sale was going unhindered.
There are already 10 petroleum retail outlets in Yanam and now the OMCs are coming forward to set up 11 more.
The high court, while passing the interim order, asked the respondents to file their counters within the next four weeks.
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