The Allahabad High Court on 12 October 2026 ordered compensation of ₹15,78,486 to Shantanu Singh for investments made after HPCL issued a petrol-dealership letter of intent.
Judge / Bench — Saral Srivastava and Siddharth Nandan, JJ.; judgment by Siddharth Nandan, J.
In Writ-C 19155/2021, the Court held that cancellation of the advertised location could be justified, but Singh should not bear losses caused by the corporation’s own error. A letter of intent was not a concluded contract; its promise nevertheless required fairness toward an applicant who had complied at his expense.
Payment is due within one month of production of a certified copy, with 8% simple annual interest upon default.
Advocates appearing — Petitioner: Anand Kumar Pandey, Prabhakar Awasthi, Ramesh Kumar Yadav, Subhash Chandra Tiwari and Sudhakar Singh. Respondents: C.S.C. (State); Komal Mehrotra; Krishna Agarawal (respondents 2–3; spelling as recorded in the appearance list).