$~80 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + W.P.(C) 6901/2025, CM APPL. 31255/2025, CM APPL. 31256/2025 & CM APPL. 31257/2025 M/S GUPTA ENGINEERS AND CONTRACTORS.....Petitioner Through: Mr. Kunwar Chandresh, Ms. Poonam Prasad, Mr. Divyansh Singh and Mr.

Munis Nasir, Advocates.

versus M/S NBCC INDIA LIMITED .....Respondent Through: None.

% Date of Decision: 21^st May, 2025 CORAM:

HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE TUSHAR RAO GEDELA

J U D G E M E N T

TUSHAR RAO GEDELA, J: (ORAL)

1. The present writ petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, 1950, seeking a direction to withdraw the impugned tender or issue a corrigendum to Clause 9 of the Additional Special Conditions of Contract (SCC) of the said tender, which declares the materials, tools, and plants belonging to the petitioner as the property of the respondent/NBCC. Alternatively, the petition further seeks return of the aforesaid materials since the same do not belong to M/s YFC Projects Private Limited (hereinafter referred to as “YFC”) and have been illegally confiscated by the respondent/NBCC.

2. The petitioner is a Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME)

Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed W.P.(C) 6901/2025 Page 1 of 7 contractor, having its registered office at 19, Patel Nagar, Hapur, Uttar Pradesh, and is represented through its partner, Mr. Rakesh Aggarwal.

3. The petitioner states that NBCC issued a Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) on 13.04.2020. Pursuant to the NIT, a contract was awarded to YFC by way of a Letter of Award dated 19.08.2020 for the works pertaining to the “Construction/Rectification of Balance Works/Left Out Works of Leisure Valley – Adarsh Awas Yojna on an ‘As Is Where Is’ Basis at Plot No. GH- 02, Sector - Tech Zone-IV, Noida (UP),” related to the Amrapali Group of Companies, on an Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) basis, at a tender value of ₹517,36,45,572/-. As per the work order, the stipulated date of commencement was ten days from the date of issuance, and the contractual period was 36 months.

4. The petitioner candidly submits that it is not a party to the contract executed between NBCC and YFC. However, the petitioner entered into a subcontracting agreement with M/s YFC Projects Private Limited for execution of works relating to Towers B1, C1, D1, and E1 of the aforementioned project. The subcontract agreement was executed on 28.11.2022, which was also the stipulated date of commencement, with a scheduled completion period of 24 months.

5. It is the case of the petitioner that, on 04.09.2024, YFC unilaterally withdrew a portion of the subcontracted works, specifically, Towers B and C on account of slow progress. Thereafter, on 25.02.2025, without issuing any prior notice, YFC terminated the subcontract in its entirety. The termination notice stated that the remaining unexecuted portion of the subcontract would be carried out at the risk and cost of the petitioner. The notice further Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed W.P.(C) 6901/2025 Page 2 of 7 mentioned that the petitioner shall not remove any machinery, materials, shuttering, or scaffolding from the site.

6. Subsequently, on 22.04.2025, the agreement between the YFC and NBCC was terminated. Following this, the NBCC issued a fresh NIT on 01.05.2025 to execute the balance works at the risk and cost of the YFC. Clause 9 of this fresh NIT provides for the confiscation of property belonging to the YFC. The petitioner asserts that, despite having addressed communications to the NBCC requesting exclusion of the petitioner’s materials and equipment from the purview of the fresh NIT, no response was received.

7. In view of the above, and considering that the last date for submission of bids under the said tender is 22.05.2025, the petitioner apprehends imminent risk of unlawful confiscation of its materials and machinery valued at approximately ₹10 crores by NBCC. Hence, the petitioner has filed the present petition.

8. Mr. Kunwar Chandresh, learned