The petroleum ministry has decided to lift the ban on setting up of petrol pumps and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) agencies and to allow public sector oil marketing companies to appoint dealers on their own.
The ministry has decided to do away with the system of dealer selection boards. The four public sector oil units, which will now be free to appoint their dealers are Indian Oil Corporation, IBP, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum.
However, they will have to make their selection of dealers under the new rules announced by Petroleum Minister Ram Naik at the consultative committee of Parliament.
The minister also clarified the selection process would be transparent, objective and uniform for all public sector oil units, which are expected to place the new guidelines before their boards for approval later this month and start finalising the dealers from the middle of next month.
The ban on the appointment of dealers was imposed following the controversy over alleged nepotism in dealer selection.
Under the new guidelines, public sector oil units will have to reserve 50 per cent of their dealerships for the weaker sections of society.
While 25 per cent of the allotments of new petrol stations and gas agencies will be reserved for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates, the remaining 25 per cent slots will be kept for Other Backward Classes.
While paramilitary and defence personnel will get 4 per cent of the new dealerships, 2 per cent of the dealerships have been reserved for the physically handicapped and another 3 per cent for freedom fighters.
As per the new norms, the public sector oil units will have to set up their own three-member panels to select dealers for new locations and those which were advertised by the erstwhile dealer selection boards, but for which interviews were not held.
