Y R MIDHA Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The unsavoury controversy presented in the writ petition results from a challenge inter alia to the action of the fourth respondent in awarding the contract to carry out physical verification of the stocks and inventories of the Food Corporation of India to M/s. SGS India Ltd, a Mumbai based firm of surveyors in which the fourth respondent's son works as Executive Marketing.

(2.) The petitioner, a member of the Indian Audit and Accounts Service, was working as Principal Director (Commerce and Audit) and Ex-officio Member, Audit Board, New Delhi. The first respondent is the Union of India which has been represented through the Ministry of Food and Consumer Affairs, Department of Food and Civil Supplies, New Delhi; second respondent is also the Union of India represented through the Ministry of Finance, New Delhi; third respondent is the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, New Delhi; fourth respondent is the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, New Delhi (for short 'the CAG'); the fifth to ninth respondents are/were the officers of, the third respondent; tenth respondent is the Food Corporation of India (for short 'the FCI"), and the eleventh respondent is a company, namely, SGS India Limited.

(3.) The facts giving rise to this petition are as followss:-