In Brief
JSW Infrastructure Limited and another, forming a consortium, were awarded a berth at Paradip Port Trust after bidding in a tender for mechanisation of berths on a 30-year BOT basis. The unsuccessful bidding consortium challenged the award, invoking a monopoly-prevention policy clause that (it argued) prevented operators already holding one berth for a specific cargo from bidding for another berth for the same cargo. The High Court upheld the objection and set aside the award. The Supreme Court allowed the appeals, holding that the policy clause applies only when a single private operator exists in the port; with multiple private operators already present (as at Paradip), the clause does not apply. The Court emphasised judicial restraint in reviewing commercial tender decisions absent mala fides or perversity."
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