JUDGMENT

Mohit Kumar Shah, J. - The present writ petition has been filed for setting aside the office order contained in letter no. 714 dated 02.07.2020 issued under the signature of Executive Engineer, Construction Division No. 2, Building Construction Department, Bihar, Patna, whereby and whereunder the agreement bearing agreement no. 04 SBD 2017/18 for construction of Vidhayak Awasan (MLA Parisar), entered into between the petitioner and the respondent authorities has been rescinded. The petitioner has further prayed that upon setting aside of the aforesaid order of termination of agreement, the respondent authorities be directed to grant 12 months' time to complete the balance work inasmuch as the delay, which has occurred in the execution of the work in question, was beyond the control of the petitioner or on account of the lapses / latches on the part of the respondents and moreover, the last four months expired during the period of lock-down on account of Covid-19, Pandemic.

2. Shorn of the details, it would suffice to state that an agreement bearing agreement no. 04 SBD/ 2017-18 dt. 24.06.2017 was executed in between the petitioner-company & the Executive Engineer, Construction Division No. 2, Building Construction Department, Bihar, Patna, with respect to the construction of Vidhayak Awasan (MLA Parisar) at Beerchand Patel Path in Patna. The work order was issued by the Executive Engineer, Construction Division No. 2, Building Construction Department, Govt. of Bihar, Patna, vide memo no. 399 dated 02.05.2017 with a stipulation that the work was to be commenced from 02.05.2017 and time of completion was fixed as 24 months, thus, the deadline for completion of the work was 02.05.2019. The petitioner is stated to have commenced the work, but the same got hampered on account of several unavoidable reasons like encroachment upon 80% of the construction site, number of trees present within the construction site which were required to be cleared for the purposes of construction, non-demarcation of the periphery of the construction site, appropriate drawings having not been provided and position of underground high tension electrical cable and water pipeline having not been provided.

3. It is the further case of the petitioner that subsequently, the work in question also got hampered on account of demonetization, ban on supply of sand, implementation of GST, Covid-19 Pandemic, irregular payments and change in the drawings. It is the contention of the petitioner that several communications had taken place in between the petitioner and the respondents, however, in the meantime, the Government of Bihar declared lock-down on account of outbreak of Covid-19 Pandemic vide notification dated 17.03.2020 / 22.03.2020 with effect from 23.03.2020, which was further extended up to 5th of June, 2020, whereupon the petitioner had requested the respondent-Executive Engineer to pay the outstanding dues of the petitioner and accordingly, extend the time for completion of the work in question, however, in the meantime, the agreement in question was rescinded by the impugned order dated 02.07.2020.

4. The learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner, Sri P. K. Shahi, assisted by Sri Ranjeet Kumar, Advocate, has made a short and crisp submission to the effect that Clause 14 of the Contract itself envisages issuance of a notice in writing to the contractor prior to cancelling of the contract, however, in the present case, admittedly, no show cause has been issued to the petitioner by the respondents prior to passing of the impugned order dated 02.07.2020, rescinding the agreement in question. It is submitted that compliance of the principles of natural justice is inherent in Article 14 of the Constitution of India and any deviation or breach thereof would render such decision of the authority illegal and void. It is further submitted that substantial work has been completed by the petitioner and it undertakes to complete the remaining work within a peri