LONG ISLAND NATURE HOTEL AND RESORT PRIVATE LIMITED Vs. THE ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION LIMITED AND OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an attempt by a contractor to wriggle out of its obligations under an agreement that the contractor did not wish to pursue.

(2.) Pursuant to a notice inviting tender for the development of a resort at Long Island, the appellant herein put in a bid. The appellant's was found to be the highest bid and an agreement was entered into between the Administration, represented by the respondent, and the appellant in August, 2010 which envisaged the appellant putting up a resort at Long Island within a period of about three years from the date of the agreement. One of the important features of the agreement was that it defined a cut-off date and a specific time was afforded thereunder for the appellant to complete the setting-up of the resort.

(3.) The appellant claims that in terms of the said agreement and the representations contained in the notice inviting tender, it was permissible for the appellant to construct a resort on the 12 hectares of land after leaving a No Development Zone (NDZ) of 50m from the high-tide line. According to the appellant, the entire scenario as envisaged under the agreement of 2010 changed with a notification being issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests on January 6, 2011. The appellant says that prior to such notification, it was possible for the construction to be made as close to the sea as upto 50m of the high-tide line; but pursuant to such notification, the discretion of the MoEF to allow construction as close as 50m from the high-tide line was done away with and the minimum length of the NDZ had now to uniformly be 200m without exception.