STERLITE INTERLINKS LIMITED Vs. STATE OF MEGHALAYA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By way of the present writ petition, the petitioner a public limited company is assailing the letter dtd. 3/4/2024 issued by the respondent No.3 whereby, a Letter of Award dtd. 29/11/2023 issued in favor of the petitioner had been cancelled. The cancellation had been impugned as being wholly arbitrary and in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

(2.) The brief facts are that the petitioner was the highest bidder for selecting the exclusive operating partner for the Optical Ground Wire (OPGW) Passive Fibre Infrastructure of MePTCL pursuant to a tender dtd. 25/9/2023 and a Letter of Award (LOA) dtd. 29/11/2023, was issued in favour of the petitioner. It is the case of the petitioner that once the LOA had been issued in his favour, the same constituted a formation of a contract and the parties therefore, are understood to have entered into a binding contract as per the terms contained therein. The cancellation of the LOA is thus being assailed on the ground that it is arbitrary, irrational and illegal.

(3.) Mr. R. Jain, learned senior counsel assisted by Mr. S.K. Hassan, learned counsel on behalf of the petitioner has submitted that clause 5.1. of the LOA itself, has amounted to a formation of contract by the parties, inasmuch as, the clause has specifically provided that notwithstanding anything stated in the bidding documents, the LOA would constitute the formation of the contract. The learned senior counsel submits that it is well settled law, that a tender is an invitation to offer, the bid is an offer and a Letter of Intent is an acceptance, and these factors being satisfied it was not open to the respondent No.3 to cancel the said LOA. He further submits that as per clause 5.2 of the LOA, the parties were required to enter into a formal contract agreement within 15 days of issuance of the LOA, and an Infrastructure Asset Management Agreement (IAMA) as per the proforma given in the schedule to the tender was required to be executed between the parties.