Petrol pump row: BPCL serves notice to Lalu's son Tej Pratap for 'wrong information'

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd has served a show cause to Bihar minister Tej Pratap Yadav seeking his reply on a petrol pump allotted to him here by the company.

The notice from BPCL was delivered to Yadav, who is minister for Health, Minor Water Resources, Environment and Forest in Grand Alliance government of Nitish Kumar on May 29 last. The show cause gave 15 days time to Yadav, the elder son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, from the date of receipt for submitting his reply.

The notice signed by BPCL Territory Manager (Retail), Patna, Manish Kumar followed a complaint that Yadav had acquired the petrol pump at the busy Anisabad bypass road here on the basis of "wrong" information furnished by him. A copy of the notice was made available to the media in Patna on Wednesday.

Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi had highlighted the issue of petrol pump allotment to Tej Pratap Yadav in his series of allegations against Lalu Prasad's family. Yadav had applied for the petrol pump in 2012 and the retail outlet was commissioned to M/S Lara Automobiles represented by him as its proprietor on February 27 this year.

According to the complainant Yadav had falsely declared in his application that he has land in his name for the retail allotment whereas the real owner of the said land is M/S AK Infosystems "who had never given land on lease to you (Tej Pratap)". "On the date of submission of the application for the retail outlet (12.1.2012) you were neither the shareholder nor the director of the said M/s AK Infosystem which never entered into any lease with you (Tej Pratap)," the complaint said.

The notice further sought explanation from him as to whether he could spare time to look after the outlet's activities. "We have observed that you are at present discharging duty of minister for health, minor water resources, environment and forest of Bihar which may suggest that you are not in a position to carry out obligations contained in the agreement personally," the letter said.