JUDGMENT :

N. V. RAMANA, CJI.

1. The present Civil Appeals, by way of Special Leave, arise out of the impugned common judgment dated 24.03.2016 passed by the High Court of Karnataka, at Bengaluru, whereby the High Court allowed the writ petitions filed by the respondents herein. By way of the writ petitions, the respondents had challenged the adverse decisions taken by the appellant with respect to the arrangement regarding coal procurement entered into by the parties for the purposes of the appellant’s thermal power projects in the State of Karnataka.

2. A conspectus of the facts necessary for the disposal of the present appeal is as follows: the appellant was allotted coal mines by the Union of India for captive consumption for their thermal power projects in the State of Karnataka. In 2002, M/s EMTA Coal Limited (hereinafter, “EMTA”) was selected to form a joint venture with the appellant for the development of the mines, and the supply of coal to the said power projects. After setting up of the joint ventureKarnataka EMTA Coal Mines Limited (in short, “KEMTA”) by the appellant and EMTA, all three companies entered into various contracts for development of the coal mines and supply