GAUTAM KHAITAN & ANR vs UNION OF INDIA & ANR

Judgment text excerpt

$~ * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Judgment reserved on: 22.09.2025 Judgment pronounced on: 15.11.2025 + LPA 72/2015, CM APPL. 2627/2015 & CM APPL. 13983/2017 GAUTAM KHAITAN & ANR. .....Appellants Through: Mr. Ramesh Singh, Senior Advocate along with Ms. Roopa Dayal and Mr. Shubham Jindal, Advocates. versus UNION OF INDIA & ANR. .....Respondents Through: Mr. Himanshu Pathak, SPC along with Mr. Amit Singh, Advocate for R-1/UOI. Mr. Zoheb Hossain, Special Counsel for ED; Mr. Vivek Gurnani - Panel counsel for ED along with Mr. Kartik Sabhwal; Mr. Pranjal Tripathi; Mr. Kanishk Maurya and Mr. S.K. Raqueeb, Advocates.. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANIL KSHETARPAL HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HARISH VAIDYANATHAN SHANKAR JUDGMENT ANIL KSHETARPAL, J. 1. The present Appeal assails the correctness of the Judgment dated 04.02.2015 [hereinafter referred to as „IJ‟] passed by the learned Single Judge [hereinafter referred to as „LSJ‟], whereby the writ petition filed by the Appellants, seeking quashing of the Provisional Attachment Order (PAO) dated 15.11.2014 in connection with the Signature Not Verified Signed By:JAI NARAYAN Signing Date:17.11.2025 LPA 72/2015 Page 1 of 16 11:06:43 Government‟s acquisition of VVIP helicopters from Agusta Westland, was dismissed. A. BRIEF BACKGROUND: 2. Shorn of unnecessary details, the brief facts leading to the filing of the present Appeal are that pursuant to a proposal of Indian Air Force for replacement of its MI-8 VIP helicopters, a Request for Proposal (RFP) was issued in October 2000, stipulating a mandatory service ceiling requirement of 6,000 meters. This ceiling criterion was, however, subsequently relaxed to 4,500 meters, thereby enabling Augusta Westland, an Anglo-Italian helicopter design and manufacturing company, to participate in t