Techno Prints vs Chhattisgarh Textbook Corporation 2025 INSC 236 - Blacklisting - Show Cause Notice - Writ Jurisdiction

Constitution of India - Article 226 -Ordinarily, Writ Court should not entertain any petition, seeking to challenge a show cause notice unless the Court is convinced that the same has been issued by an authority having no jurisdiction, or the same is tainted with mala fides. [But in this case, SC partly quashed the show cause notice]

Blacklisting - There is always an inherent power in the Authority to blacklist a contractor. But possessing such inherent power and exercising such power are two different situations and connotations. There may be a power but there should be reasonable ground to exercise such power- An order of blacklisting casts a slur on the party being blacklisted and is stigmatic. Given the nature of such an order and the import thereof, it would be unreasonable and arbitrary to visit every contractor who is in breach of his contractual obligations with such consequences. There have to be strong, independent and overwhelming materials to resort to this power given the drastic consequences that an order of blacklisting has on a contractor. The power to blacklist cannot be resorted to when the grounds for the same are only breach or violation of a term or condition of a particular contract and when legal redress is available to both parties. Else, for every breach or violation, though there are legal modes of redress and which compensate the party like the Corporation before us, it would resort to blacklisting and at times by abandoning or scuttling the pending legal proceedings. (Para 30-33) Quoted from Blue Dreamz Advertising Pvt. Ltd. & Anr. v. Kolkata Municipal Corp.: 1.In case there exists a genuine dispute between the parties based on the terms of the contract, blacklisting as a penalty cannot be imposed. 2. The penalty of blacklisting may only be imposed when it is necessary to safeguard the public interest from irresponsible or dishonest contractors, and 3. The Corporation being a statutory body, have a higher threshold to satisfy before passing such blacklisting order and therefore, the measures undertaken by it should be reasonable- When there are guiding principles explained by this Court as to when & in what circumstances a blacklisting order can be passed then, such principles should also be borne in mind by the Authority at the time of issuing a show cause notice. (Para 27-29)