Techno Prints Vs Chhattisgarh Textbook Corporation & Anr. (Supreme Court of India)
This appeal before the Supreme Court arises from a judgment of the Chhattisgarh High Court, which dismissed the appellant’s writ appeal and upheld the Single Judge’s decision rejecting a challenge to a show cause notice issued by the Chhattisgarh Textbook Corporation. The appellant, a long-standing printing firm and one of the registered vendors of the Corporation, was earlier declared L-1 for several textbook printing tenders. According to the Corporation, the appellant violated clauses of the tender agreement relating to timely completion of printing and supply obligations.
The Corporation issued a show cause notice calling upon the appellant to explain why it should not be blacklisted for three years, have its earnest money deposit forfeited, and compensate the Corporation for losses due to default. The relevant tender clauses empowered the Corporation to cancel the contract, forfeit security, and blacklist the contractor for failure to complete work within stipulated timelines.
The appellant challenged the show cause notice before the High Court. The Single Judge noted that in an earlier litigation involving the same parties, the High Court had only set aside a previous order of blacklisting because it exceeded the grounds mentioned in the earlier show cause notice. That order, however, did not preclude the Corporation from issuing a fresh show cause notice or conducting an inquiry into alleged contractual irregularities.
