Mr. Rajshekhar Rao, Sr. Adv. alongwith Dr. Divya Swamy, Mr. Yagyawalkya Singh, Ms. Nidhi v. CONVERGENCE ENERGY SERVICES LIMITED & ANR

.....Respondents Through: Mr. Samdarshi Sanjay, Mr. Ashish Kumar Kumar and Mr. Vrinda Narang, Advocates for R1 and R2. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SACHIN DATTA O R D E R 17.01.2025 The present petition has been filed by the petitioner assailing a %

1. communication dated 13.07.2023 (hereinafter ‘impugned communication’) issued by the Chief General Manager, Contracts of the respondent no. 1. The said communication is titled as ‘cancellation of the letter of award’. 2. At the outset, learned senior counsel for the petitioner submits that he is neither disputing the decision/s in the said communication as recorded in Para 4 thereof to the effect that “LOA No. CESL/06/2021-22/Solar-PV modules/212207021/LOA-2021063

24.09.2021 placed “Procurement of 60 MWp Solar PV module (330 Wp and above) for the State of Maharashtra” stands Cancelled with immediate effect and no supply/services are expected to be delivered against this LOA.”, nor is the This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 24/01/2025 at 16:29:50 petitioner raising a grievance as regards the forfeiture of the Contract Performance Guarantee (CPG) as recorded in Para 5 of the said communication. It is stated that in case the petitioner seeks to agitate these aspects, appropriate recourse shall be taken to the arbitration clause in the agreement between the parties. 3. The petitioner is confining its grievance in the present petition to Para 6 of the impugned communication, which reads as under:- “6. Your firm is hereby banned/debarred for further Business Dealing with CESL/EESL with immediate effect. The order of banning/debarment shall operate for a period of two (02) years from the date of issuance of this letter. As a consequence, no enquiry/bid/tender shall be issued to your firm nor will the bids submitted by your firm be entertained.”

4. The short point raised by the learned senior counsel for the petitioner is that in the show-cause notice which preceded issuance of the aforesaid impugned communication, the petitioner was not even put to notice that any banning/debarment is proposed against the petitioner. He draws attention to the show cause notice dated 09.06.2022, which reads as under:- “Ref: CESL/PREPL/MH/Cause Show/Solar PV modules/20/5280 09 June 2022 To, Sh. Krishna Kadariya Director Patanjali Renewable Energy Pvt. Ltd. Ground Floor, Guru Gorakhnath, M. N Samiti, HAF, Pocket-3, Sector-7, Dwarka, New Delhi-110045 India [email protected] Sub: Show Cause Notice for non-compliance on terms and conditions of contract Ref: NIT no. CESL/06/2021-22/Solar PV Modules/212207021 dated 29 July 2021 CESL LoA No. CESL/ 06/2 021-22 / Solar PV Modules/ This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 24/01/2025 at 16:29:50 212207021/ LoA-2021063 dated 24th NTP to M/s Patanjali Renewable vide letter dated 27tn April 2022 Your letter vide PREPL/CESL/RL/160522 dated 16% May 2022 September 2021 Dear Sir, This is with reference to the LoA dated 27/09/2021 issued to M/s Patanjali Renewable Energy Pvt. Ltd. (PREPL) for supply of 36 MWp Solar PV modules in the State of Maharashtra and NTP issued for supply of 36 MWp solar PV modules vide letter dated 27th April 2022. It may be noted that as per the terms and conditions of RfP/LoA, M/s PREPL is required to deliver the solar PV modules within 15 days from issuance of NTP/PO. Further, entire 36 MWp supply upon site wise PO/NTP is to be completed by 24tn September 2022. However, as per your letter dated 16, May 2022, it has been informed that no firm supply schedule could be given by M/s PREPL on account of lock down situation and availability of raw material. Kindly note that any deviation in this respect is unacceptable. We regret to mention that till date M/s PREPL has not submitted any further action plan to honour the supply of modules. Therefore, it is requested that immediate action may be taken w.r.t supply and delivery of modules on site as per our NTP letter dated 27 April 2022 and please submit supply timeline schedule of the awarded capacity (36 MWp). In case of any further delay, we would be compelled to take suitable action at sole risk and cost of M/s PREPL not limited to annulment of award and forfeiture of contract performance guarantee.”

5. It can be seen that the show cause notice makes no specific reference to any proposed banning/debarment action against the petitioner, much less does it specify the period thereof. 6. A reply to the show cause notice came to be filed by the petitioner on

10.06.2022. It is noticed that the impugned communication does not deal with the justification/defence raised by the petitioner in the response to the said show cause notice. 7. In the circumstances, after some hearing, with the consent of the respective counsel for the parties, Para 6 and 7 of the impugned This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 24/01/2025 at 16:29:50 communication dated 13.07.2023 are set aside. 1. It is agreed that in case the respondent no.1 seeks to pass a fresh order to ban/ debar the petitioner, a show cause notice, followed by an opportunity of hearing, shall be afforded to the petitioner, and a reasoned order shall be passed after considering the defence/response of the petitioner. 2. The present petition is, accordingly, disposed of in the aforesaid terms. Pending application also stands disposed of. JANUARY 17, 2025/at SACHIN DATTA, J This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 24/01/2025 at 16:29:50