A recent Orissa high court ruling has upheld the termination of a petrol pump dealership secured through a forged graduation certificate. The court ruled that a benefit secured by fraud is voidable and generates no enforceable equities.
Justice Sanjeeb K Panigrahi dismissed a writ petition of Prasanta Behera, who operated a BPCL retail outlet in Bhubaneswar for nearly a decade before his dealership was cancelled in May 2015.
The court cited the Supreme Court's ruling in the R Vishwanatha Pillai vs State of Kerala case, stating that an appointment or allotment secured by fraud is void from inception.
Behera's argument that BPCL acted after an unreasonable delay was also rejected by the court, observing that when an action is founded on fraud, the question of delay in initiating proceedings becomes largely immaterial.
The court also rejected Behera's contention that the land lease executed and the dealership were inseparably linked, holding that the lease and the dealership were distinct legal instruments between different parties.
