H.K.SEMA, D.K.JAIN
State of A. P. – Appellant
Versus
Pioneer Builders, A. P. – Respondent
Certainly. Based on the provided legal document, here are the key points:
The suit against the Government or a public officer requires prior service of a written notice, which is a condition precedent for maintaining the suit. Without compliance with this requirement, the suit is not maintainable (!) (!) .
Service of notice under Section 80 of the Civil Procedure Code (C.P.C.) is mandatory unless the suit involves urgent or immediate relief, in which case the Court may permit institution without notice with the leave of the Court. Even then, the Court must provide the Government or public officer a reasonable opportunity to show cause (!) (!) .
An exception exists where the Court grants leave under Section 80(2) to institute a suit without prior notice, but such leave must be explicitly granted, indicating the grounds and application of judicial discretion (!) .
The waiver of the notice requirement can occur if the defendant does not object to the maintainability of the suit on this ground and participates in the proceedings. Such waiver depends on the facts of each case and the conduct of the parties (!) (!) .
Amendments to pleadings are generally permissible at any stage of proceedings to determine the real issues, provided they do not result in substituting one cause of action for another or changing the subject matter of the suit. The Court should adopt a liberal approach unless serious injustice or irreparable loss is evident (!) (!) .
The power to allow amendments is broad and should be exercised in the interest of justice to avoid multiplicity of proceedings, but it must be within the limits that do not alter the fundamental nature of the case (!) (!) .
The
JUDGMENT
D. K. JAIN, J. — These four cross appeals, by special leave, are directed against two judgments and orders, both dated 3.3.1999, rendered by the High Court of Judicature Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad in Appeals No. 2206-2207 of 1996 and 236-237 of 1998. The State of Andhra Pradesh, the first defendant in the suit and plaintiff, namely, M/s. Pioneer Builders,Engineers and Contractors, Hyderabad, hereinafter referred to as “the contrac¬tor” are the appellants before us. Since the factual matrix and the questions of law involved in all the appeals are common, these are being disposed of by this judgment. However, we shall refer to the facts of Civil Appeal No.6115/1999 as illustrative.
2. Sometime in the year 1988, the Superintending Engineer, Srisailam Right Branch Canal (for short ‘SRBC”), defendant No.2 in the Suit, issued notice inviting tenders from pre-qualified bidders of eligible source countries, which included India, for the work of excavation, lining and construction of structures of SRBC. It was a time bound project supported by credit loans from the International Development Association and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
3. The tender of th
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