M. RAJKUMAR Vs. THE GENERAL MANAGER, SOUTHERN RAILWAY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner/contractor participated in the tenders called for by the respondent/Southern Railways for the Gauge Conversion between Pollachi and Podanur Section and was successful, which resulted in Letter of Acceptance dated 15.09.2010 at a value of Rs.10,24,33,668/-. A formal contract of agreement was executed on 02.02.2011 with a ten month period prescribed to complete the work up to 14.07.2011.

(2.) The petitioner claims to have mobilized resources to commence the work, as the contract was to be completed within 10 months from the date of the agreement. There were various special and general conditions of contract that governed the contract. The Letter of acceptance is dated 15.09.2010, and Note (ii) of Clause 1 deals with the issue of Vitiation and Variation. The said clause reads as under:-

(3.) It appears that dispute from various accounts arose including arising from the vitiation clause, mentioned aforesaid, as the petitioner claims that the said clause had no application in the present case, since the petitioner was a lone tenderer and there was no scope for L2 & L3 for the purpose of calculation, as they had withdrawn from the tender. Thus, the rates agreed to between the petitioner and the respondent should have governed the payments, once the contract was concluded, and invocation of rates quoted by others (L1 & L2) to calculate the sum payable, was not permissible.