Delhi High Court
Indian Railway Mobile Caterers ... vs Union Of India & Ors. on 17 February, 2022
$~31
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
% Judgment delivered on: 17.02.2022
+ W.P.(C) 3008/2022 & CM. APPLS. 8704-05/2022
INDIAN RAILWAY MOBILE CATERERS ASSOCIATION
..... Petitioner
versus
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. ..... Respondent
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the Petitioner: Mr. Rajeshekhar Rao, Senior Advocate with Mr. Jasmeet
Singh, Mr. Umang Raj, Mr. Divjot Singh Bhatia, Mr. Saif
Ali, Mr. Pushpendra Singh Bhadoriya, Ms. Ruhsheet
Saluja, Mr. Anurag Sarda, Ms. Sonal Sarda, Advocates.
For the Respondent: Mr. Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar, CGSC with Ms. S.
Bushra Kazim and Mr. Karan Chhibber and Mr. Zeeshan
Rizvi, Advocates for UOI.
Mr. Jagjit Singh, Senior Standing Counsel for Railways
with Mr. Preet Singh and Ms. Kalyani Arora, Advocates.
Mr. Saurav Aggarwal and Anshuman Chaudhary,
Advocates for respondent No.3.
CORAM:-
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJEEV SACHDEVA
JUDGMENT
SANJEEV SACHDEVA, J. (ORAL)
1. The hearing was conducted through video conferencing.
2. Petitioner, who claims to be an association of catering service
providers, has filed this petition inter alia raising a grievance with
Digitally Signed
Signature Not Verified By:JUSTICE SANJEEV
Digitally Signed By:KUNAL SACHDEVA
MAGGU Signing Date:17.02.2022
Signing Date:18.02.2022 07:52:39 21:18
This file is digitally signed by PS
to HMJ Sanjeev Sachdeva.
regard to the rider contained in Clause 3 of the Office Memorandum
dated 12.11.2020, issued by the Government of India, Ministry of
Finance, wherein it is stipulated that the performance guarantee to be
submitted by the contractors on existing contracts be reduced from 5-
10 % to 3%.
3. The rider stipulates that the benefit of reduced performance
guarantee will not be given in contracts under dispute where
arbitration/court proceedings have already been started or are
contemplated.
4. It is submitted by learned senior counsel for the petitioner that
there is no clarity insofar as the rider is concerned, for the reason that
it dos not stipulate the nature of dispute.
5. It is contended that there may be possibilities where the claim is
of the contractor and not the authority and nonetheless, the same
would constitute a dispute in terms of the rider to Clause-3.
6. It is further contended that to overcome the clause, there is also
a possibility that cases where there are no disputes are shown as if
there are disputes pending or contemplated so as to deprive the
contractors of the benefit of the said clause.
7. Learned senior counsel submits that clarity needs to be
provided by the Ministry of Finance with regard to the nature fof
Digitally Signed
Signature Not Verified By:JUSTICE SANJEEV
Digitally Signed By:KUNAL SACHDEVA
MAGGU Signing Date:17.02.2022
Signing Date:18.02.2022 07:52:39 21:18
This file is digitally signed by PS
to HMJ Sanjeev Sachdeva.
disputes that would prevent the contracted from availing the benefit of
the Office Memorandum.
8. In view of the above, this petition is disposed of with a
direction that the petition be treated as a representation by the
Ministry of Finance, Government of India.
9. The representation be expeditiously considered and disposed of
in accordance with law.
10. It is further clarified that if there is any individual dispute of a
particular contractor, it would be open to the contractor to raise the
dispute in accordance with law before appropriate forum.
11. Learned counsel appearing for respondent No.3 under
instructions submits that the petitioner-Association is not recognized
by them. The issue of recognition of the Association is left open.
12. Copy of the order be uploaded on the High Court website and
be also forwarded to learned counsels through e-mail by the Court
Master.
SANJEEV SACHDEVA, J
FEBRUARY 17, 2022
NA
Digitally Signed
Signature Not Verified By:JUSTICE SANJEEV
Digitally Signed By:KUNAL SACHDEVA
MAGGU Signing Date:17.02.2022
Signing Date:18.02.2022 07:52:39 21:18
This file is digitally signed by PS
to HMJ Sanjeev Sachdeva.
