UDAIPUR: A special court in Udaipur, hearing cases related to prevention of atrocities against SC/ST communities, has summoned seven officials of the Essar Oil Ltd in connection with an alleged harassment and forgery case pending for two years. The warrants have been issued against Mahesh Shukla, Mahesh Rana, Prashant Ruiya, Naresh Nair, Ajeetchandra Mishra, Sanjay Luthra and Rahul Priyadarshi.A complaint was lodged under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in July 2016. However, the Pratapnagar police submitted an FR (final report) in the case. The complainant Rajesh Chouhan then filed a protest petition, following which the court has issued warrants summoning the officials for a hearing on May 15.Chouhan alleged that the company was trying to wrongfully acquire his land. He claimed that it was an offence under the POA Act.Chouhan was proprietor of a petrol pump at Khajuri village in Ratanpur near Rajasthan-Gujarat border on NH-8. In his petition, Chouhan said, he owned land measuring 2,166 square metre and invested a hefty amount in setting up the infrastructure there."Essar Oil had run a petrol pump on the land but had to shut it down due to irregular supply. I had purchased the land from its owner. The company offered me their franchise to run the outlet and we executed a dual contract in 2009. One was a land lease agreement for 20 years and the second for the franchise. But the company kept me in the dark by not disclosing the fact that the National Highway Authority of India NHAI ) had denied NOC for operating the pump way back in 2004, deeming it illegal," Chouhan said in his complaint.

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