| Content Provider | Supreme Court of India |
|---|---|
| e-ISSN | 30484839 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | NDLI |
| Subject Keyword | Government contracts: Judicial review |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Law Judgement |
| Jurisdiction | India |
| Case Type | Appeal |
| Court | Supreme Court of India |
| Disposal Nature | Appeal Dismissed |
| Headnote | Government contracts: Judicial review – Scope of – On facts, appellant (CIDCO) invited tender for lease of land for the development of Hotels – Issuance of allotment letter in favour of the highest bidder – Complaints regarding irregularities in allotment of plots of land, change of user and deviation from the terms and conditions of the tender – On the basis of preliminary enquiry, issuance of notice to the highest bidder and the respondent-lessee by the newly appointed Vice Chairman – Thereafter, cancellation of lease deed, pursuant to the enquiry – Writ petitions – High Court quashed the cancellation order – On appeal, held: There is an element of abuse of bureaucratic power behind subsequent change in the tender allotment – When a contract is being evaluated, the mere possibility of more money in the public coffers, does not in itself serve public interest – Blanket claim by the State claiming loss of public money cannot be used to forgo contractual obligations – On facts, post-decisional hearing given to respondent-lessee was just to sanctify the process of cancellation – Change of usage and the subsequent division was within the statutory limitations – Thus, the earlier undertakings taken by the appellant-authorities cannot be set aside with the change of person in power, without any rhyme or reason – Phenomenon of ‘regime revenge’ is detrimental to the constitutional values and rule of law – Equity demands that when the State failed to produce an iota of evidence of either financial loss or any other public interest that has been affected, it should be compelled to fulfill its promises – Thus, the order of CIDCO, inter alia, annulling the allotment on hyper-technical grounds cannot be sustained for being contrary to the doctrine of fairness, and is set aside – Judicial restraint. Government contracts: Tender process – Judicial review of – Power of constitutional courts – Explained. Government contracts: Constitutional factors – Satisfaction of – Held: Governmental bodies being public authorities are expected to uphold fairness, equality and rule of law even while dealing with contractual matters – Right to equality u/Art. 14 abhors arbitrariness – Public authorities have to ensure that no bias, favouritism or arbitrariness are shown during the bidding process, unless public interest demands otherwise – Degree of compromise of any private legitimate interest must correspond proportionately to the public interest, so claimed – On mere grounds of public interest or loss to the treasury, the successor public authority cannot undo the work undertaken by the previous authority – In that case, businessmen would be hesitant to enter Government contract or make any investment. Administrative law: Administrative orders – Principle of natural justice – Significance of – Held: Natural justice is an important aspect while viewing the administrative orders – To maintain rule of law, effective natural justice is to be provided to affected parties, before a decision is taken – Any attempt by authority to evade the requirement of providing effective hearing before reaching a conclusion, cannot pass the muster. |
| Judge | Honble Mr. Justice N.V. Ramana |
| Neutral Citation | 2021 INSC 797 |
| Petitioner | The Vice Chairman & Managing Director, City And Industrial Development Corporation Of Maharashtra Ltd.& Anr. |
| Respondent | Shishir Realty Private Limited & Ors. Etc |
| SCR | [2021] 13 S.C.R. 190 |
| Judgement Date | 2021-11-29 |
| Case Number | 3956 |
National Digital Library of India (NDLI) is a virtual repository of learning resources which is not just a repository with search/browse facilities but provides a host of services for the learner community. It is sponsored and mentored by Ministry of Education, Government of India, through its National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT). Filtered and federated searching is employed to facilitate focused searching so that learners can find the right resource with least effort and in minimum time. NDLI provides user group-specific services such as Examination Preparatory for School and College students and job aspirants. Services for Researchers and general learners are also provided. NDLI is designed to hold content of any language and provides interface support for 10 most widely used Indian languages. It is built to provide support for all academic levels including researchers and life-long learners, all disciplines, all popular forms of access devices and differently-abled learners. It is designed to enable people to learn and prepare from best practices from all over the world and to facilitate researchers to perform inter-linked exploration from multiple sources. It is developed, operated and maintained from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur.
Learn more about this project from here.
NDLI is a conglomeration of freely available or institutionally contributed or donated or publisher managed contents. Almost all these contents are hosted and accessed from respective sources. The responsibility for authenticity, relevance, completeness, accuracy, reliability and suitability of these contents rests with the respective organization and NDLI has no responsibility or liability for these. Every effort is made to keep the NDLI portal up and running smoothly unless there are some unavoidable technical issues.
Ministry of Education, through its National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT), has sponsored and funded the National Digital Library of India (NDLI) project.
| Sl. | Authority | Responsibilities | Communication Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education |
Sanctioning Authority | https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives |
| 2 | Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur | Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project | https://www.iitkgp.ac.in |
| 3 | National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur | The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project | Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in |
| 4 | Project PI / Joint PI | Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project |
Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon |
| 5 | Website/Portal (Helpdesk) | Queries regarding NDLI and its services | support@ndl.gov.in |
| 6 | Contents and Copyright Issues | Queries related to content curation and copyright issues | content@ndl.gov.in |
| 7 | National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club) | Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach | clubsupport@ndl.gov.in |
| 8 | Digital Preservation Centre (DPC) | Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books | dpc@ndl.gov.in |
| 9 | IDR Setup or Support | Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops | idr@ndl.gov.in |