CHENNAI: A set of guidelines announced recently by the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for company-owned-company-operated (COCO) petrol pumps could see a change in the dealership of hundreds of such outlets in Tamil Nadu and thousands of them in the country.

While permitting the national oil marketing companies such as Indian Oil Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation to operate permanent COCO outlets with their own officers, it recommended phasing out of the temporary COCO outlets within a timeframe.

"Preferably within a year," said the broad parameters of the Ministry, which it unveiled earlier this month after deliberations with the companies.

It, however, allowed the companies under special circumstances such as those caught up in court cases or against whom there were complaints to operate outlets on a temporary basis till a final decision was taken. According to oil industry sources, the COCO outlets are important to the companies, particularly when they are their flagship or model petrol pumps. In Tamil Nadu, at least a couple of hundred COCO outlets exist. Noting that the parameters should serve as a basis for the companies to come out with their guidelines, the Ministry opposed the practice of operating permanent COCO outlets on job-contractorship or ad-hoc dealership basis. Such outlets should be put in the category of temporary COCOs within a month, said the guidelines put out on the Ministry's website (www.petroleum.nic.in) .

A permanent COCO retail outlet should be operated by a company officer, with overall charge. Those companies finding it difficult to deploy sufficient number of staff could arrange the manpower through a labour contractor.

But selection of labour contractors should be done "through advertisements only." The labour contractor should not be asked to invest in working capital and the companies must arrange it. The guidelines suggested a three-year labour contract for permanent COCO outlets, instead of the one-year tenure being followed now.

Preference in allotment

For temporary outlets, the contract must not exceed one year, within which action for appointment of dealers for petrol pump should be completed. In appointing dealers, preference should be given to the pending letter of intent-holders under the categories of the special scheme (Kargil allottees); discretionary quota scheme; corpus fund scheme (SC/ST category of dealerships, widows and women above 40 years of age without earning parents) and other categories as prescribed in the marketing plans. "In case no LOI-holder under these categories are available, the dealerships should be advertised under normal process." The Ministry said ad hoc dealership should be resorted to only in cases where dealerships have been terminated and where new dealers are to be appointed. "The period of ad hoc dealership should not, in any case, be more than four months as ad hoc dealership violates the multiple dealership norms."

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