In Brief
Abhishek Kumar sought LPG distributorship from HPCL based on a public advertisement. After interviews, he was ranked first on the merit list. HPCL later cancelled his candidature on vague grounds of alleged discrepancies without specifying what was incorrect. The Supreme Court held that a public authority cannot justify a cancellation order by inventing or supplementing reasons after the fact. An order must be construed by its own language; new grounds discovered later are impermissible. The Court set aside the High Court's reversal, restored the lower court's judgment, and directed HPCL to issue the Letter of Intent to the appellant within six weeks.
The lawyer headnote and full judgment text are available to registered users.