RISHI AD PROMOTERS, REPRESENTED BY ITS FOUNDER, KAMALUDEEN AZAD Vs. MANAGING DIRECTOR, METROPOLITAN TRANSPORT CORPORATION CHENNAI LIMITED

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The writ petitioner is engaged in the business of promotion of advertisements. It is a MSME firm. The respondent Corporation invited tenders for award of licenses to display advertisements on the buses run by them. The number of buses are 1530. They were split into three (500+630+400). The writ petitioner emerged as the successful tenderer. Three tender agreements were entered into with the writ petitioner. The license period was to be valid for 11 months starting from 26/2/2021 to 25/1/2022. This was described in the tender agreement itself as the first spell. The contract between the parties contemplated renewal for two subsequent spells of 11 months each subject to satisfactory performance by the licensee during the previous license period and prompt payment of licence fee and other charges. Due to pandemic situation, the operation of the buses was affected and the petitioner could not enjoy the fruits of licence fully. Yet, they were called upon to pay the monthly licence fee. The petitioner submitted representation dtd. 9/6/2021 to the respondent seeking the following reliefs:-

(2.) The petitioner sent a reminder on 16/6/2021 reiterating their request. Since there was no response, the petitioner filed W.P. No. 13329 of 2021. By order dtd. 25/6/2021, it was disposed of and the respondent was directed to consider the petitioner's request. The respondent vide communication dtd. 16/7/2021 informed the petitioner that his request could not be considered and the petitioner was directed to remit a sum of Rs.69,87,960.00 on or before 22/7/2021. It was made clear that in the event of failure on the petitioner's part, the tender would be cancelled. Questioning the same, the petitioner filed W.P. Nos. 15378 and 16633 of 2021. The Writ petitions were disposed of on 1/10/2021 in the following terms:-

(3.) Pursuant to the aforesaid direction, the respondent passed the order dtd. 17/11/2021 accepting the request for waiver of the licence fee for the full lock down period from 10/5/2021 to 20/6/2021 (42 days) and called upon the petitioner to pay a sum of Rs.2,49,68,376.00 on or before 24/11/2021. Since the demand was not fulfilled by the petitioner, the impugned communication dtd. 5/1/2022 was issued terminating the agreement dtd. 26/2/2021. The petitioner was also informed that the security deposit, EMD etc., remitted by the petitioner stood adjusted against the pending dues. Challenging the same, these writ petitions came to be filed.