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TMI Blog2009 (10) TMI 520X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nbsp; ORDER Civil Appeal No. 6978 of 2009 at S. L. P. (C) No. 5461 of 2009. Leave granted. This appeal has been filed against the impugned judgment of the Division Bench of the High Court of Delhi dated February 2, 2009 passed in Writ Petition (C) No. 7865 of 2008 Reported as Arraycom (India) Ltd. v. Union of Indian [2010] 29 VST 546 (Delhi). The facts in brief are: Respondent No. 2 (Prasar Bharati) issued a notice inviting tender (NIT) on October 20, 2006 for the supply of two transmitters of 1000 KW (or 1 MW) each. The bidding was a two-stage process involving a technical bid and a financial bid. There is no dispute that respondent No. 1 (Array-com) and the appellant (BECIL) were both technically qualified. In respect ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ities of the State, article 14 of the Constitution applies. Hence, there should be transparency by holding an open public auction/ tender because such contracts often involve huge amounts of public money. Ordinarily, the lowest bidder should be given the contract, although it is not an invariable rule in all cases. In the present case, Prasar Bharati found that the appellant's bid was the lowest bid on the basis of the chart which we have quoted above. Respondent No. 1 before us filed a writ petition in the High Court of Delhi which has been allowed by the impugned judgment and hence this appeal before us. In our opinion, the whole controversy is about the interpretation of the second paragraph submitted by respondent No. 1 (Arraycom). Ac ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion. In administrative matters, the scope of judicial review is limited and the judiciary must exercise judicial restraint in such matters, as held by this court in Tata Cellular v. Union of India AIR 1996 SC 11; [1994] 6 SCC 651. Moreover, the view of Prasar Bharti also appears reasonable because Prasar Bharti has to pay the amount inclusive of sales tax, since there are no concessional forms. If Prasar Bharti has taken up one possible interpretation, the High Court should not have intervened. The scope of judicial review in administrative matters is limited. For the reasons given above, this appeal is allowed and the impugned judgment of the High Court is set aside. No order as to costs. Civil Appeal No. 6979 of 2009 at S.L.P. (C) No ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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