M.R. Verma, J.—This suit has been instituted by the plaintiff for recovery of Rs. 25 lacs on account of damages.

2. The case of the plaintiff as made out in the plaint is that the plaintiff is a sole proprietary concern of M.R. Rattan dealing with earth works. The defendant entered into an agreement dated 24.6.1993 with Nathpa Jhakri Joint Power Corporation Limited for construction of Civil Works for head race tunnel and surge shaft for which the defendant required Tippers at the project site for carriage of muck. The plaintiff offered to provide Tippers for the execution of the said work and the parties thus entered into an agreement dated 10.9.1996 whereby the plaintiff was awarded work of transporting the excavated material from Manglad Head Race Tunnel to the dumping areas for a period of one year from the date of the award of the work. As per the terms and conditions of the agreement, the plaintiff was to make minimum seven numbers of Tippers available at the work site for mucking and the agreement between the parties could be terminated by either party after giving six weeks notice. The plaintiff was further required to provide a loader for loading muck at the loading