Damchen Petroleum has appealed to the High Court against the lower court’s decision on the rightful lessee to construct a fuel station on a state land in Ramtokto, Thimphu.
On 30th December last year, Thimphu District Court passed the judgement in favour of the State Trading Corporation of Bhutan Limited (STCBL), allowing the company to construct the fuel station. Damchen Petroleum has filed the appeal against Thimphu Dzongkhag Administration and the STCBL.
According to the District Court’s judgement, as per the Rules and Regulations for Lease of Government Reserved Forest Land & Government Land, the Dzongkhag Land Lease Committee functions as the local authority at the local level. And the committee leased the land to STCBL.
However, Damchen Petroleum is reasoning that the company was the first one to approach for the land when the talk of constructing a new fuel station in Ramtokto was going around. Following due process, it had already submitted an application form to lease for business land to Chang Gewog Administration. The gewog then forwarded the application to Thimphu Thromde with a copy of it to the Dzongkhag Administration. And while the company was following up with the Thromde, the STCBL had already started site development works.
According to Damchen Petroleum, the company also sought clarification from the Dzongkhag Administration on the status of the land lease but to no avail.
Following this, Damchen Petroleum filed a case against the Thimphu Dzongkhag Administration and the STCBL in August last year.
Samten Dolkar
