The Delhi High Court Monday held as not maintainable a PIL seeking the cancellation of a lease awarding 50 acres of land at Kandla Port in Gujarat to a private firm, due to lack of territorial jurisdiction.
A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao said no part of cause of action has arisen within the territorial jurisdiction of this court and granted liberty to the petitioner NGO to approach the appropriate forum in accordance with law.
The bench passed the judgement on the maintainability of on a plea by NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation, alleging that Kandla Port Trust (KPT), now known as Deendayal Port Trust, overvalued the structures set up at the site by the firm, Friends Salt Works and Allied Industries (FSWAI), when it had leased the land in the past, to ensure that only the firm gets the contract.
The bench noted that the tender has been issued from Gandhidham, and the land is situated at Kutch in Gujarat.
It further said that the tenders received were considered in Gandhidham and the decision-making authority is also there.
"The averments in the writ petition are also directed against the Kandla Port Trust and FSWAI which are situated in the State of Gujarat. In fact, there is no averment in the writ petition relating to the tender / award of the same, imputing to the respondent no.1 (Union of India).
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"In other words, no part of cause of action has arisen within the territorial jurisdiction of this court," the bench said.
It said the plea of NGO's counsel Prashant Bhushan by referring to various sections of the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963 to contend that the Central Government has role to play in the working of the Kandla Port Trust, is without any merit.
"Hence, it must be held that no part of cause of action has arisen within the territorial jurisdiction of this court and the present petition is not maintainable in this court," the bench said.
The court had reserved its verdict on September 24 after hearing the arguments of the counsel for the petitioner, the Centre, KPT and FSWAI.
The counsel for the Centre, FSWAI and KPT had opposed the petition on grounds of lack of territorial jurisdiction.
The petition had claimed that FSWAI did not have to pay the amount of Rs 207 crore if it was successful in the bid and added that under the earlier lease agreement KPT did not have any contractual obligation to compensate the firm for its assets.
The NGO had sought that if the lease awarded to the firm in April 2015 was not cancelled, then the amount of Rs 207 crore be recovered from it.
"The introduction of said clause in the tender (to compensate FSWAI) is illegal and arbitrary since it was the responsibility of FSWAI to remove the structures before the expiry of the (earlier) lease. The additional burden of Rs 207 crore on other bidders put them at a significant disadvantage and ensured that the said tender would be awarded to FSWAI," the NGO had alleged in its plea.
CPIL had earlier raised the issue in a fresh application moved in a pending petition which alleged that a huge scam had taken place during 1960s and 1970s when plots near Kandla Port were leased out on nomination basis to private parties without a bidding process.
The court, however, had asked the NGO to file a separate petition to challenge the new lease and subsequently it filed the instant PIL.
The earlier PIL had also alleged irregularities in allotment of 16,000 acres of government land which caused a huge loss to the state.