(1.) The fate of this writ petition hangs on the question whether the termination of contract and forfeiture of Earnest Money Deposit by the respondents could be looked into and decided by the High Court in exercise of its Writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.
(2.) The learned Counsel for the petitioner attempted to bring home to the Court that the petitioner was precluded from performing the work at the site of the contract mainly on account of the fact that the site for executing the contract work was not made available to him and not even till today. The work was to be completed within 18 months from the date when the site was actually required to be handed over to the petitioner-Contractor by the Roads and Buildings Division, Tirupathi, Chittoor District.
(3.) By a letter dated 25-5-1996 (Lr. No. W.F.C.104/93-94/A2), the 4th respsondent terminated the Agreement No. 104/93-94 dated 21-7-1993 relating to the work of construction of a High Level Bridge across river Araniar in KM 4/2 of Puttur Satyavedu Road and the Earnest Money Deposit of Rs.91,400.00 was also forfeited.