SANJEEV KUMAR SINGH vs INDIAN RAILWAY CATERING AND TOURISM CORPORATION LIMITED

Judgment text excerpt

$~50 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Date of decision: 25th March, 2026 + W.P.(C) 3876/2026 & CM APPL. 19038/2026 SANJEEV KUMAR SINGH .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Jitender Mehta, Mr. Lalit Kumar, Mr. Abhinav Kumar, Mr. Shivam Pahal and Mr. Avneesh Singh, Advocates versus INDIAN RAILWAY CATERING AND TOURISM CORPORATION LIMITED .....Respondent Through: Mr. Saurav Agrawal, Mr. Anshuman Chowdhary, Mr. Kiran Devrani and Mr. Samayra Adlakha, Advocates CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AMIT BANSAL AMIT BANSAL, J. (Oral) 1. The present writ petition has been filed seeking quashing of the impugned letter dated 20th March, 2026 issued by respondent/Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (‘IRCTC’). In terms of the said letter, the Contract awarded in favour of the petitioner for running a Food Plaza at Patliputra Railway Station was terminated along with forfeiture of security deposit remitted by the petitioner in the form of a Bank Guarantee. 2. Briefly stated, the case set up by the petitioner is as under: Signature Not Verified Signed By:DHARMENDER W.P.(C) 3876/2026 Page 1 of 7 SINGH Signing Date:28.03.2026 16:36:04 i. The respondent/IRCTC issued E-Tender dated 17th September, 2025 (‘Tender’) for Operation and Management of Food Plaza at Patliputra Railway Station. ii. As a condition of the Tender, the petitioner paid Earnest Money Deposit (‘EMD’) of Rs. 3,00,000/-. iii. On 14th November, 2025, the respondent/IRCTC issued a Letter of Award in favour of the petitioner (‘Letter of Award’) for setting up Operation and Management of the aforesaid Food Plaza. iv. In terms of the Tender, the petitioner furnished a Bank Guarantee towards 10% security deposit, i.e. ₹8,63,950/- to the respondent/IRCTC. v. Since the Tender required furnishing of security deposit of