A court should not exercise jurisdiction unless the cause of action has arisen wholly or partly within its territorial jurisdiction, and administrative requirements and convenience should be considered in filing writ petitions.

( 1 ) RULE returnable forthwith. Heard by consent.

( 2 ) THE petitioners have challenged the tender process initiated by the respondent No. 1 Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Limited and the award of the contract to the respondent No. 3. According to the respondent No. 1 the entire cause of action has not arisen within the normal territorial jurisdiction of the Bench at Nagpur, and same has arisen within the territorial jurisdiction of the Principal Seat at Bombay, hence a preliminary objection has been raised to the filing of this petition at Nagpur. We have accordingly heard the learned counsel on this issue.

( 3 ) SHRI K. H. Deshpande, Senior Advocate, the learned counsel for the respondent No. 1 submitted that the place of filing of a writ petition is controlled by Article 226 (2) of the Constitution of India which empowers a High Court to exercise jurisdiction in relation to the territories within which cause of action, whole or any part thereof. Further, according to learned counsel, as far as this bench of the Bombay High Court is concerned, Parliament has specially delineated the territorial jurisdiction while reorganizing the State of Maharashtra by enacting section 41 of the Bombay Reorganization Act, 1960, which reads as follows :

"41. Permanent Bench of Bombay High Court at Nagpur - Without prejudice to the provisions of section 51 of the States Reorganization Act 1956, such Judges of the High Court at Bombay, being not less than three in number, as the Chief Justice may, from time to time nominate, shall sit at Nagpur in order to exercise the jurisdiction and power for the time being vested in that High Court in respect of cases arising in the districts of Buldana, Akola, Amravati, Yeotmal, Wardha, Nagpur, bhandara, Chanda and Rajura: provided that the Chief Justice may, in his discretion, order that any case arising in any such district shall be heard at Bombay. "

Learned counsel further relies on the Chapter XXXI of the Bombay High court Appellate Side Rules, 1960 which governs presentation of the matter at nagpur, Aurangabad and Goa, in particular Rule 1 which reads as follows :"1. Presentation of matters at Nagpur, Aurangabad and Goa.- All appeals, applications, references and petitions including petitions for exercise of powers under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution arising in the Judicial Districts of Akola, Amravati, Bhandara, Buldhana, chandrapur, Nagpur, Wardha, Yavatmal and Gadchiroli which lies to the high Court of Bombay shall be presented to the Additional Registrar of that High Court at Nagpur and shall be disposed of by the Judges sitting at Nagpur: provided that the Chief Justice may, in his discretion , order that any case arising in any such District shall be heard at Bombay; provided further that the Chief Justice may, in his discretion, order that any case presented at Bombay be heard at Nagpur. "

( 4 ) ACCORDING to learned counsel for the respondent only writ petitions where the cause of action has arisen within districts specified in Rule 1 of chapter XXXI and under section 41 of the Bombay Reorganization Act, alone can be filed before the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court. In the present writ petition since no part of the cause of action has arisen in any of the districts specified by any of the provisions, the present petition is liable to be returned for being presented before the Principal Seat at Bombay.

( 5 ) THE relevant facts in relation to the cause of action are not disputed namely that, the tender notice was published at Bombay, bids were submitted at bombay, the scrutiny of documents, fire tests were conducted at Bombay. Eventually the letter dated 27-8-2009 was issued at Bombay. According to the petitioner the following events give rise to the part of the cause of action at nagpur - a communication pertaining to tender notice, communication of date and timing of opening and communication regarding a query about the validity of a certifica