M.M. Sundresh, J.

1. A global tender was issued by the appellant on 09.04.1997 inviting bids for development of VII Berth as a container terminal and maintain the same for 30 years on Build, Operate and Transfer Basis.

2. The first respondent submitted its bid on 24.10.1997. The financial offer was submitted on 19.12.1997. As the offer made by the first respondent was the highest, it was accordingly accepted and letter of intent was issued on 29.01.1998 followed by a license agreement dated 15.07.1998. Needless to state that the financial bid of the first respondent formed the consideration in its favour. The payment to be made is by way of royalty. This royalty is based upon the offer made by the first respondent. Now, there are two types of consideration. Royalty is something which is fixed, payable from year to year. The second one is a revenue sharing model. As per this model, the revenue augmented through users is to be shared. Tariff is something which has to be collected from the users.

3. The Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP) was constituted through the institution of Section 47-A to 47-H by appropriately amending Section 48 of the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963 (