JUDGMENT

The petitioner is an A Class contractor under the Public Works Department. The dispute involved in this writ petition pertains to the order of termination of the contract entered into between the petitioner and the 2^nd respondent, at the risk and cost of the petitioner, before the expiry of the contract.

2. The facts that led to the filing of this writ petition are as follows; As per Ext.P1 agreement, the petitioner entered into a contract with the 2^nd respondent, based on the tender notification published by the said respondent, for carrying out the work of improvement to Thamarachal - Malayidamthuruthu Road by providing BM and BC from chainage 2/950 to 5/000 - General Civil Work. Ext.P1 was executed on 26.10.2022 and consequently, the site was handed over to petitioner on 05.11.2022. As per the terms of contract, the petitioner was supposed to complete the work within nine months i.e., on or before, 04.08.2023. According to the petitioner, the work mainly included widening of the road from 3.8 meters width to 5.5 meters width by providing Granular Sub Base (GSB) and then Wet Mix Macadam (WMM) to be laid for the entire road and later Bitumen Macadam (BM) 5 centimeter and Bi