ORDER

[1] Heard Mr. S. D Singh, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and Mr. M. Devananda, learned counsel appearing for the respondents.

[2] The fact of the present case in a nutshell is that M/S Hindustan Steel Works Construction Ltd., a subsidiary of the NBCC (India) Ltd., while working as Project Manager Consultant for the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports published a notice inviting e-tender dated 28- 11-2018 for construction of buildings including allied external development works for National Sports University (Package 2 – A) at Imphal, Manipur. The value of the said tender was fixed as Rs. 96,40,07,726/- and the period for completion of the contract work was fixed as 15 (fifteen) months and the date of commencement of the period was to be reckoned from the 10^th day after issuance of the letter of award.

[3] The said contract work was awarded to the petitioner viz, M.S Simplex Project Ltd, and the said contract work was to be executed under the terms and conditions of the contract drawn up between the parties. When the said contract work could not be completed in time, the petitioner made a request to the employer for extension of time for completion of the said contract work and the employer granted provisional extension of time for completion of the said contract work which was up to 31-12-2021. Subsequently, when the petitioner could not complete the execution of the said contract work in time, the period for completion of the said contract work was extended from time to time on the request made by the petitioner and ultimately, when the petitioner failed to complete the execution of the said contract work even during the extended time, the respondents declined to entertain the request of the petitioner for granting further extension of time and informed the petitioner that they would terminate the contract and invoke the bank guarantee. Having been aggrieved, the petitioner filed the present writ petition praying for granting the following reliefs:

a. Issue a Rule-in-Nisi;

b. Call for record of the case, hear the parties and make the Rule absolute;

c. Issue the writ of mandamus or any other writ/direction/order of similar nature whereby Respondents are commanded to take practical view of the volume of work and the time which are required for execution of the entire works by constituting an independent Committee and extend the period accordingly enabling the Petitioner to execute the works, even by opening the Escrow Account with full monitoring by the Respondents qua the funds to be disbursed to the agencies who are working at the site and further adhere to their own minutes of meeting and decisions for extension of time, whereby they have committed to extend the period for one year from the date of supply of the final drawings;

d. Issue the writ of prohibition or any other writ/direction/order of similar nature whereby restraining the Respondents herein from invoking and encashing the Bank Guarantees i.e., Bank Guarantee Nos. INBG07921000072 for a sum of Rs. 5,30,19.600.00, INBG07921000073 for a sum of Rs. 1,25,00,000.00, INBG07921000074 for a sum of Rs. 1, 25, 00,000.00, INBG07921000075 for a sum of Rs. 1,25,00,000.00 and INBG07921000076 for a sum of Rs. 1,06,99,632.00 Band Guarantee No. INBG07922000069 dated 22-03-2022 for a sum of Rs. 88,36,600.00 valid up to 21-03-2022, Bank Guarantee No. INBG07922000071 dated 22-03-2022 for a sum of Rs. 88,36,600.00 valid up to 21-03-2023 and the respondents be further restrained from taking any coercive action against the Petitioner qua the contract No. HSCL-CPG/GWY15BD003/e094 (LoA)101-8874/G-16945 dated 28-01-2019.

e. Issue a writ of mandamus or any other writ/direction/order or similar nature whereby commanding the Respondents herein not to take any coercive action against the Petitioner qua the Contract No. HSCL-CPG/GWT15BD003/e094 (LoA)101-8874/G- 16945 dated 28-01-2019 and the petitioner be permitted to execute the works as per the specifications and complete the sam