IMPORTANT POINT
The main legal point established in the judgment is that the expenditure incurred before the submission of the Expression of Interest (EOI) was not eligible for consideration under the scheme guidelines, and the petitioner's legitimate expectation did not create a right to claim the subsidy.

JUDGMENT

SUBRAMONIUM PRASAD, J.

1. Petitioner has approached this Court for a direction to the Respondent to set aside the decision dated 08.11.2019 taken by the Technical Committee of the Respondent herein rejecting the claim of the Petitioner for release of subsidy amounting to Rs. 4.36 crores.

2. The Petitioner is a cold chain solution provider and offers integrated cold chain and preservation infrastructure facilities from the farm gate to the consumer. It is stated that services of the Petitioner cover the creation of the infrastructure facility along with the entire supply chain, namely, pre- cooling, weighing, sorting, grading, multi product/multi temperature cold storage packing facility, IQF, blast freezing and reefer vans, mobile cooling units for facilitating storage & distribution of horticulture, organic produce, marine, dairy, meat and poultry etc. It is stated that during the year 2016, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme called Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (hereinafter referred to as 'the PMKSY') was launched by the Respondent herein for creation of food processing and preservation capacities and for the modernisation/expansion of existing food processing units with the aim of increasing the level of food processing, reduction of wastage and enhancing the income of the farmers. It is stated that the last date of submission of Expression of Interest (EOI) was 15.06.2018, however, the last date of submission of the EOI was extended four times and the EOI was to be submitted on or before 30.06.2019.

3. It is stated that the Petitioner submitted its EOI through online mode on 28.02.2019. It is pertinent to mention here that even though the Petitioner submitted its EOI on 28.02.2019, the Petitioner had already approached various banks for securing a loan, and Punjab National Bank, vide letter dated 21.01.2019, accepted the loan application of the Petitioner. The proposal of the Petitioner was considered by the Technical Committee of the Respondent herein in a meeting held on 12.03.2019. The Technical Committee of the Respondent found that the proposal given by the Petitioner met the eligibility criterion and the Petitioner's unit was awarded a score of 88 out of 100, which is more than the minimum eligibility score of 60. The Recommendation of the Technical Committee of the Respondent herein reads as under:

"Based on the PMA appraisal, presentation and submission of documents by the applicant, TC found that the proposal is meeting the eligibility criteria of scheme guidelines with score of 88. However, the location of the project is outside the Mega Food Parks and Agro Processing Clusters but a Designated Food Park, applicant has already availed grants-in-aid for the same project under cold chain scheme. Inspection of unit by PMA is necessary for TC to make recommendation as it's a case of expansion."

4. The Recommendation of the Technical Committee of the Respondent herein was considered by the Inter-Ministerial Approval Committee (hereinafter referred to as 'the IMAC') in its meeting held on 20.06.2019. The IMAC decided to refer the matter back to the Technical Committee for re-evaluation/appraisal keeping in view the expenditure already incurred by the promoter and for a pre-inspection of the unit due to the application being one of expansion of a unit. In compliance with the directions of the IMAC, the proposal of the Petitioner herein was once again considered by the Technical Committee of the Respondent in its meeting held on 18.07.2019 after the site of the Petitioner was visited by the Project Management Agency (hereinafter referred to as 'PMA'). The case of the Petitioner was considered on 08.11.2019 and the Technical Committee of the Respondent recommended that the proposal of the Petitioner is ineligible for the benefit of the Scheme. The Recommendation of the Technical Committee reads as under:

"Based on the PMA appraisal, presentation and submission of documents by the applicant, To recommended the proposal fo