Judicial review is permissible in contractual disputes involving state actions when there is arbitrary action or violation of natural justice, affirming that time is not necessarily of the essence in contract fulfillments.

ORDER :

T. MADHAVI DEVI, J.

In this Writ Petition, the petitioner is seeking a Writ of Mandamus by declaring

(a) the action of cancellation of the factory zone of Suryapet District vide G.O.Ms.No.13 dated 15.03.2025 by respondents No.1 and 2 as illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional;

(b) the action of the re-allocation of the factory zone to respondent No.4 vide G.O.Ms.No.14 dated 15.03.2025 issued by respondent No.1 as illegal, arbitrary and violative of principles of natural justice and unconstitutional;

(c) consequently to also declare the impugned letters No.1 and 2 both being Lr.No.OP/89/2020 dated 20.03.2025 issued by respondent No.1 as illegal and violative of principles of natural justice; and (d) to pass such other order or orders.

2. Brief facts leading to the filing of the present Writ Petition are that to boost palm oil production, the Government of India launched a scheme namely the National Mission of Edible Oils-Oil Palm (NMEO- OP) and under the said scheme, oil palm growing States were identified and it was decided that for the said purposes, appropriate funding/assistance is to be provided by both the Central and the respective State Governments. The State of Telangana is one of the States identified under the scheme.

3. A company by name Ruchi Soya Industries Limited has been cultivating palm oil in the united State of Andhra Pradesh since the year 2009 under the name and style of MAC Oil Palm Limited and the said company was allotted factory zones of four mandals in Nalgonda District and one mandal in Krishna District of the erstwhile combined State of Andhra Pradesh. A Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) dated 16^th April, 2010 was entered into between the Government of Andhra Pradesh, initially with a company by name MAC Oil Palm, which later in the year 2012, got amalgamated with Ruchi Soya Industries Limited and the change in the name was acknowledged by Government of Andhra Pradesh vide G.O.Rt.No.347 dated 3^rd April, 2012 and accordingly, a Memorandum of Understanding was entered into by the Government of Combined State of Andhra Pradesh and Ruchi Soya Industries Limited on 25^th April, 2012. Ruchi Soya Industries Limited became Patanjali Foods Limited (petitioner herein) subsequently.

4. In the year 2015, some of the mandals were allotted to a company by name Sarada Yelishala Agrotech India Private Limited operating in Nalgonda District were re-allotted to Ruchi Soya Industries Limited vide Lr.No.RKVY/OP/73/ 2014 dated 6^th October, 2015 and the same was confirmed vide Memo. No.3256/H&S/2015 dated 9^th January, 2017. Thus, as of the year 2017, Ruchi Soya Industries Limited operated 11 mandals in Nalgonda District. In the year 2020, an Office Memorandum dated 12^th June, 2020 was issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare of the Government of India for expansion of oil palm cultivation in Telangana State and the potential area of cultivation of oil palm was increased to 3,09,431 hectares and in furtherance of the increased area of cultivation, the Government of Telangana, vide Lr.No.NFSM/89/2020 dated 18^th June, 2020 called for fresh applications to operate the newly designated areas. Ruchi Soya Industries Limited was allotted 7,738 hectares in Nalgonda District and 11,300 hectares in Suryapet District (except the mandals that were already opera