S P TELECOM vs RAILTEL CORPORATION OF INDIA LIMITED

Judgment text excerpt

$~3 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Date of Decision: 23rd April, 2026 + O.M.P.(I) (COMM.) 51/2026 & I.A. 3569/2026 S P TELECOM .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Udit Seth, Adv. Mob: 9899495968 Email: [email protected] versus RAILTEL CORPORATION OF INDIA LIMITED .....Respondent Through: Mr. Ashok Singh, Adv., with Mr. Ashok Singh Parmar, AM (Legal) Mob: 9313649228 Email: [email protected] CORAM: HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE MINI PUSHKARNA MINI PUSHKARNA, J (ORAL): 1. The present petition has been filed under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Arbitration Act”), seeking interim protection against the action of blacklisting vide Letter dated 24th November, 2025, issued by the respondent, on the ground that the blacklisting was done without issuing a prior show cause notice. As per the said Letter, the petitioner has been blacklisted for a period of three years, disallowing the petitioner to participate in the respondent’s future tenders in any region. 2. The parties entered into the Contract Agreement dated 04th October, 2023, for maintenance of the optical fiber cable network in Viramgam- Gandhidham-Bhuj (HQ – Samkhyali) section of Ahmedabad, for a period of Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed O.M.P.(I) (COMM.) 51/2026 Page 1 of 9 By:HARIOM SHARMA Signing Date:26.04.2026 17:24:36 three years. The petitioner had performed the contract for about two and a half years. 3. As per the case put forth by the petitioner, in the remaining six months towards the end of the year 2024, frequent OFC damages occurred due to parallel third-party railway works. Despite the petitioner’s explanations and a joint inspection on 22nd November, 2025 confirming deployment of manpower and equipment, the respondent terminated the contract and blacklisted t