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NT Bureau
Puducherry, Mar 3:

        It is no new practice of the Police Department to auction unclaimed and seized objects. But now, this move has landed them in trouble.

        The food cell of the Puducherry police announced yesterday that it would conduct an open auction to sell 4,000 litres of petrol and 8,000 litres of diesel seized from a tanker lorry.

        This created a commotion among civil supply authorities who have voiced protest over the decision of the police.

        According to them, the Petroleum Ministry had not empowered any individual or organisation other than the oil firms to sell the fuel.

        Even petrol bunks which procure diesel and petrol in large quantities should procure from those oil firms authorised by the Centre. When such is the case, the announcement to sell such bulk quantities of petrol and diesel had only exposed their ignorance.

        It may be recalled that a decade ago, the Puducherry police conducted a similar auction and sold seven national flags which became a serious issue which was raised in Parliament and the police were forced to face an embarassing situation.

        'They (police) have not learnt lessons from their mistakes', say civil supplies authorities now.