M/S Jayanta Kumar Ghosh Outdoor Catering Pvt. Ltd. and Anr v. The Union of India and 4 Ors

ORDER Date : 26-05-2023 Heard Ms. B. Choudhury, learned counsel for the petitioners; Mr. B. Sharma, learned Standing Counsel, NF Railway; and Mr. G.N. Sahewalla, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Ms. P. Baisya, learned counsel for the respondent nos. 2 – 5.

¶2The subject-matter of the writ petition is an assailment to an order dated 05.08.2021 passed by the respondent no. 2 on the subject : Termination of Contract of on-board Catering Services in train no. 02424-23 NDLS-DBRT Rajdhani Special'. The operative part of the order reads as under :-

"In view of the reported "sale of Cooked Food", "Storage of raw material for preparation of cooked food" and "illegal possession of 9 bottles of liquor by your staff", two Show Cause Notices were served on you. Your replies to the Show Cause Notices were not found to be satisfactory, hence, it has been decided to terminate the Page No. 3/3 temporary contract of Train no. 02423-24 NDLS-DBRG Rajdhani, awarded to you, with immediate effect, as per terms and condition of license. Further, Competent Authority has decided to debar you from participating in future projects of IRCTC for a period of 06 months, from the date of issue of this letter."

¶3The Contract of on-board Catering Services in Train no. 02424-23 NDLS-DBRT Rajdhani Special was awarded to the petitioner under temporary license for a period of 90 days purely on ad-hoc basis pursuant to a Letter of Contract [LoC] dated 21.05.2021.

¶4It is the contention of Ms. Choudhury, learned counsel for the petitioner that the order of debarment passed against the petitioner from participating in future projects of IRTCTC for a period of 6 [six] months from the date of issue of the order of termination is ex-facie stigmatic. The grounds of assailment are that any order of debarment in respect of business ventures has civil consequences and there was no prior and proper show cause notice meeting the two requirements indicating the materials/grounds and the proposed penalty/action, thus, violating the principles of natural justice.

¶5Mr. Sahewalla, learned Senior Counsel for the respondent IRCTC has fairly submitted that the observation regarding debarment will not be considered as stigmatic for any purpose as the period of contract was long over and the matter has become stale.

¶6Accepting the above submissions made by the learned Senior Counsel for the respondent IRCTC and as agreed to by the learned counsel for all the parties, this writ petition is closed with the observation that the observation regarding debarment of the petitioner for a period of 6 [six] months would not be considered as stigmatic for any purpose.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.o1/3 GAHC010118412021 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/3614/2021o M/SoJAYANTAoKUMARoGHOSHoOUTDOORoCATERINGoPVT.oLTD.oANDoANRo HAVINGoITSoREGISTEREDoOFFICEoATo119/3,oM.N.K.oROAD,o(GROUNDo FLOOR),oBARAHNAGAR,oKOLKATA-700036,oTHROUGHoITSoDIRECTORoAND SHAREHOLDERo MRoJAYANTAoKUMARoGHOSH 2:oMRoJAYANTAoKUMARoGHOSH oS/OoLATEoBALARAMoGHOSHo NEARoOLDoBALARAMoGHOSHo NEARoOLDoLOWERoHAFLONGoRAILWAYoSTATION P.O.oLOWERoHAFLONG oP.S.oHAFLONG oDIST.oDIMAoHASAO oASSAMo PINoCODE-o78881o VERSUSo THEoUNIONoOFoINDIAoANDo4oORS.o REP.oBYoTHEoSECRETARY,oMINISTRYoOFoRAILWAYS,o DEPARTMENT/MINISTRYoOFoRAILWAYS,oRAILoBHAWAN,oRAISINAoROAD,o NEWoDELHI-110001. 2:THEoINDIANoRAILWAYSoCATERINGoANDoTOURISMoCORPORATIONoLTD. o(AoGOVT.oOFoINDIAoENTERPRISE-oMINIoRATNA) oBEINGoAoGOVERNMENToCOMPANYoHAVINGoITSoCORPORATEoOFFICEoATo 11THoANDo12THoFLOOR oSTATESMANoHOUSEoBUILDING oBARAKHAMBAoROAD oNEWoDELHI-110001. 3:THEoGROUPoGENERALoMANAGER/PROCUREMENT oINDIANoRAILWAYSoCATERINGoANDoTOURISMoCORPORATIONoLTD.o11THo ANDo12THoFLOOR Page No. 2/3 STATESMAN HOUSE BUILDING BARAKHAMBA ROAD NEW DELHI-110001. 4:THE GENERAL MANAGER/MOBILE CATERING SERVICE INDIAN RAILWAYS CATERING AND TOURISM CORPORATION LTD. 11TH AND 12TH FLOOR STATESMAN HOUSE BUILDING BARAKHAMBA ROAD NEW DELHI-110001. 5:THE ADDITIONAL GENERAL MANAGER INDIAN RAILWAYS CATERING AND TOURISM CORPORATION LTD. 4/D MANDOVI APARTMENT AMBARI GUWAHATI-3 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR A CHOWDHURY Advocate for the Respondent : SC, NF RLY BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY