Chennai: An advocate has approached the Madras high Court to direct authorities to comply with the guidelines contained in the Indian Road Congress (IRC) circular for the issuance of no objection certificate for site approvals of road-side petroleum outlets by oil marketing companies within the state.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M. Sundar, before whom the PIL filed by V.B.R. Menon came up for hearing, ordered notice to the Union and state governments and posted to February 27, further hearing of the case.
According to Menon, IRC has framed guidelines for accessibility, location and layout of roadside fuel stations and service stations with the objective to ensure free flow of traffic on the roads along the fuel stations and for minimum interference by the vehicles using the fuel stations and to ensure the safety of vehicles on the road.
He contended that both OMC & ministry of petroleum are complying with the norms prescribed by IRC in Tamil Nadu. To safeguard the travelling public it is necessary to issue guidelines for the issue of the NOC.
He said at present there were no prescribed guidelines for the issuance of NOC by the revenue authorities for site approvals for starting roadside fuel stations in Tamil Nadu. This was resulting in the arbitrary exercise of powers by the authorities.
