ORDER :

ASHUTOSH J. SHASTRI, J.

1. By way of present petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, petitioners have prayed for quashing and for setting aside the decision of respondent Deen Dayal Port Trust (hereinafter referred to as “Port Trust” for sake of brevity) dated 24.12.2021, conveyed to petitioners vide communication letter No. MS/WK/4030-V-PPP (PT.1)/GIM-546 (Annexure-A).

2. By the aforesaid decision, the respondent Port Trust authority has disqualified the petitioner No.1 from participating as bidder in the second stage of bidding process for development of Mechanized Fertilizer and other Clean Cargo Handling Facilities at Berth No.14 on Design, Build, Operate and Transfer Basis (hereinafter referred to as ‘the said Project’).

3. The main ground amongst others on which the decision is assailed in the present proceedings is that respondent has not assigned any reason for disqualifying the petitioner No.1 and as such, the impugned decision is illegal, arbitrary, unfair, violative of principles of natural justice and violative of Articles 14 and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India. The averments made in the Special Civil Application by the writ petitioners are as under:

4. Petitioner No.1 is Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited, a company incorporated under the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 and is the largest commercial port operator in India and has presence across 13 domestic ports in seven maritime States of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Odisha. Petitioner No.2 is a shareholder of petitioner No.1 and is a citizen of India, hence has got fundamental rights enshrined under the Constitution of India.

5. The respondent is a Port Trust (previously known as ‘’Kandla Port Trust’) and is a Board within the meaning of Section 2(b) of the MAJOR PORT TRUSTS ACT , 1963. The Board of Trustees of the respondent has been constituted by the Central Government as per the provisions of the said Statute and as such, is a ‘State’ within the ambit of Article 12 of the Constitution of India.

6. In July 2021, the respondent issued a notice inviting tender for the said project and by way of a Request for Qualification (in short, ‘RFQ’), applications were invited from interested parties in order to pre-qualify the competent applicants who can subsequently bid for the said project. Request for Proposal (‘RFP’) documents to be made available only to pre-qualified applicants and as such, according to the petitioner, the tender process initiated by the respondent is in two stages, namely:

(a) Qualifications stage (RFQ Stage) and

(b) Bidding stage (RFP Stage).

Pursuant to the said process, steps are prescribed as under:-

(a) Queries to be raised on or before 25.8.2021,

(b) Pre-application Conference held on 1.9.2021, and

(c) Response to the queries given by the respondent on 4.9.2021.

7. Petitioner No.1 submitted its application for prequalification on 13.9.2021 as per the requirement of RFQ. The same was within the last date prescribed under RFQ for prequalification, which was 14.9.2021. The said application was accompanied by all necessary particulars/documents. The respondent addressed a letter to the petitioner No.1 informing that it was in the process of evaluating the petitioner No.1’s application, some particulars/clarifications as required, are requested to be submitted vide letter dated 8.10.