( 1 ) 1. The petitioner approached this Court through this writ petition seeking to declare the action of the respondent in confirming the tender No. M and S-39/vgg-SB/04 through the proceedings dated 6-5-2004 as arbitrary and illegal and to further declare that the contract is frustrated and to refund rs. 47,82,575/- with interest.

( 2 ) THE petitioner is a company carrying on business of quarrying and marketing granite in domestic and international market. The respondent is the A. P. Mineral development Corporation Limited, an instrumentality of the State. The averments made in the affidavit filed in support of the petition are briefly as follows:

( 3 ) THE respondent issued a tender notification on 15-4-2004 for sale of 147-675 cbm. of galaxy granite rocks from the quarry situated at R. L Puram Village, Chimakurthy mandal, Prakasam District. In pursuance of the tender notification the petitioner submitted its tender on 24-4-2004 by quoting the bid amount at Rs. 47,82,575/- @ $ Rs. 29,000/- per cubic metre. Along with the tender documents the petitioner deposited Rs. 7,00,000/- towards Earnest money Deposit (HMD ). The tenders were opened on 2/-4-2004 and the pet