JUDGMENT (Dr. ARIJIT PASAYAT)

1. Leave granted.

2. Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment of a Division Bench of the Bombay High Court allowing the Writ Petition filed by the respondents.

3. Background facts in a nutshell are as follows:

A Writ Petition was filed by respondents 1 and 2 taking the stand that respondent No.1 was awarded a contract for the work of improvement and widening of part of the Thermax- Telco-Bhosari road which was divided in three phases and contract for Phase-III (Approx. 3.7 Kms.) was given to the them, whereas the tender of Phase-II with its cost at Rs.8,61,63,048/- was awarded to another party (Approx. 3.3 Kms.) Though the tender amount was Rs.9 crores with a discount at 9.01%, the contract price was fixed at Rs.8,18,91,000/- and the letter by the Corporation to the respondents was given on 7/4/2005 and the work was to be completed within 12 months from that date.

4. There is no dispute that the work was not completed and the corporation released an advertisement published in some of the local newspapers on 30/6/2006 inviting tenders for the improvement and widening of four roads, including the road which was the subject matter of the contract award