JUDGMENT :

ASHA MENON, J.

1. This appeal has been preferred by the appellant/Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Limited (for short, ‘IRCTC’) against the judgment dated 09.01.2020, passed by the learned Single Judge in W.P.(C) 36/2020 filed by the respondent/M/s.Jayanta Kumar Ghosh Outdoor Catering Pvt. Ltd. allowing the petition and setting aside the order dated 20.12.2019 whereby, the respondent/company was debarred from participating in the future projects of the appellant/IRCTC for a period of three years while upholding forfeiture of the Earnest Money Deposit (for short, ‘EMD’) for a sum of Rs.10 lakhs.

2. The brief facts as are relevant for the disposal of the present appeal are that under a new arrangement, the appellant/IRCTC was to operate certain trains, namely, Tejas Trains while paying haulage charges as also the custody charges to the Indian Railways. Catering and allied services on the Tejas Trains were also to be managed by the appellant/IRCTC, but in order to do so, it published a Notice Inviting Tender (for short, ‘NIT’) on 30.08.2019, inviting bids for