JUDGMENT :

Jitendra Jain, J.

The Petitioner seeks a writ of mandamus against the Respondents to refund to the Petitioner a sum of Rs.1.20 crores, being the amount of Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) paid by the Petitioner in respect of the Tender issued by the Respondents. During the pendency of the Petition, vide order dated 20th December 2018, the Respondents made a statement that they have no objection to refund 90% of the EMD amount to the Petitioner. Accordingly, a sum of Rs.1.08 crores was refunded to the Petitioner. Therefore, the relief now subsists is only relating to refund of amount of Rs.12 lakhs.

2. The Respondents had issued a Tender in the year 2016 for construction of exhibit for wolf, sloth bear, jackal, otter, Madras pond turtle, hyena, cat complex leopard, bird aviary and reptile house in VJB Udyan Zoo, Byculla, E-ward, Mumbai. The Petitioner responded to the tender and deposited 1% of the amount as EMD amounting to Rs.1.20 crores.

3. On 28th April 2017, the Respondents informed the Petitioner that on scrutiny of documents submitted in Packet-B, the tender condition No.3 (a & b) does not fulfill the criteria due to reasons mentioned therein which are reproduced hereunder