ORDER :

K Sreenivasa Reddy, J.

This Writ Petition is filed seeking to declare the action of respondent No.1 in issuing termination Order dated 03.08.2024 under Section 3 Part(1) of the Integrity Pact and Clause 8.3.4 of the Agreement dated 7.11.2022 and the subsequent actions of issuance of Notice of Enquiry dated 09.08.2024 for blacklisting the petitioner company by putting it on a 'holiday', without any ground of violation being made out, in terms of the Integrity Pact, or without conducting an enquiry into the said matter, including in terms of the Integrity Pact, or without even duly considering the reply of the petitioner dated 23.07.2024 regarding the alleged infractions, as being illegal and arbitrary and consequently set aside the same.

2. Pursuant to a Tender Notice issued by 1^st respondent for the purpose of carrying out the work of surveys, design, detailed engineering, procurement, transportation, fabrication, installation/erection, laying, hook up, hydro-testing, testing, pre-commissioning, commissioning along with associated terminal facilities and systems for 'creation of gas dehydration and DPD facilities at (a) Tatipaka and Mandapeta GCS of Rajahmundry asset ('Group A contract') and (b) Ramnad GCS of Cauvery asset ('Group B contract') of LSTK basis, and subsequent Operations and Management responsibility for the created facilities for 7 years, 1^st petitioner company submitted its offer dated 16.02.2022. The offer submitted by 1st petitioner company was accepted and 1^st respondent issued two Letters of Intent, both dated 05.07.2022, and two agreements, both dated 07.11.2022, were entered into between 1^st petitioner company and 1^st respondent in respect of the Group A and Group B contracts.

Majority shareholder in 1st petitioner company is one Jondishapour Company, which is a company registered under the Laws of Iran, holding 51% of the shareholding. In terms of the tender conditions itself, the bidding entity is entitled to provide details of 'supporting company' for fulfilling the necessary criteria of financial and technical eligibilities listed therein. At the time of submitting its offer, 1st petitioner company furnished details of 1st petitioner company along with agreements and undertakings by its supporting company viz. Jondishapour Company. In fact, on evaluation of the technical and financial eligibility conditions and after satisfying that the technical and financial eligibility conditions are fulfilled by the supporting company, the contracts were awarded by respondent No.1 to 1st petitioner company.

As per the Notification of Intent, 1^st petitioner and the supporting company were to issue Performance Bank Guarantee (PBG) for due performance of the contract, for 3% each, totalling 6% of the total contract price, for each of the contracts. As the supporting company has no office of establishment in India, since it was incorporated in the State of Iran, no Bank in India came forward to issue Bank Guarantee at its behest. Therefore, 1^st petitioner itself issued both the PBGs for the entire requisite amount as required under the Notification of Award, and the same was accepted by 1^st respondent and the same is recorded as part of the Contracts dated 07.11.2022. Pursuant to the same, the work was awarded and 1st petitioner started undertaking the works after incurring huge costs.

3. It is stated in the writ affidavit that after 298 days of accepting the PBGs for the entire value from 1st petitioner, 1^st respondent issued a letter dated 11.08.2023 to 1^st petitioner company seeking additional PBGs directly to be provided by the supporting company. Though 1st petitioner company made endeavours to obtain PBG from the supporting company, due to sanctions in place against the State of Iran, it could not obtain the same. The same was duly explained by 1st petitioner company in its letter dated 18.10.2023 addressed to 1^st respondent, to which letters issued by the Banks regarding their inability to issue PBGs in the na