J.M. Panchal JUDGMENT
J.M. Panchal, J.
1. Leave granted in both the special leave petitions.
2. Appeal arising from Special Leave Petition (C) No. 9988 of 2007 is directed against judgment dated August 10, 2006, rendered by the Division Bench of Judicature at Madras, in Writ Petition No. 3304 of 2006 by which three prayers made by the appellant to quash (1) the Letter of Intent dated June 3, 2005 granted by the Government of Pondicherry to the respondent No. 11 herein, i.e., M/s. Subhash Project and Marketing Limited, for development of port in Pondicherry on Build Operate and Transfer (`BOT' for short) basis, (2) approval dated January 21, 2006 accorded by the Lt. Governor of Pondicherry to the detailed project report dated November 16, 2005 submitted by the respondent No. 11 and its partner M/s. Om Metals Limited for the development of Pondicherry Port on BOT basis as well as to the concession agreement to be entered into between the Government of Pondicherry and the respondent No. 11 with its consortium/partner M/s. Om Metals Limited and with their affiliates for the development of the Pondicherry Port and all related and ancillary/other activities and (3) direction dated January 24, 2006, issued by the Director of Ports, Government of Pondicherry, Port Department, to the officers concerned, to prepare a list of all the existing moveable/immovable assets of the Pondicherry Port for handing over to the respondent No. 11 by January 30, 2006, consequent upon the decision taken by the Government of Pondicherry for the development of Pondicherry Port on BOT basis, are rejected.
3. Appeal arising from Special Leave Petition (C) No. 6977 of 2007 is also directed against judgment dated August 10, 2006, mentioned above, rendered in Writ Petition No. 12337 of 2006, by which two prayers made by the appellant to quash (1) the approval dated January 21, 2006 accorded by the Lt. Governor of Pondicherry to the detailed project report dated November 16, 2005, submitted by the respondent No. 11 and its partner M/s. Om Metals Limited, for the development of Pondicherry Port on BOT basis as well as to the concession agreement to be entered into between the Government of Pondicherry and the respondent No. 11 with its consortium/partner M/s. Om Metals Limited and with their affiliates for the development of Pondicherry Port and all related and ancillary/other activities and (2) the direction dated January 24, 2006, issued by the Director of Ports, Government of Pondicherry, Port Department, to the officers concerned to prepare a list of all the existing moveable/immovable assets of the Pondicherry Port for handing over the same to the respondent No. 11 by January 30, 2006 pursuant to the decision taken by the Government of Pondicherry for the development of Pondicherry Port on BOT basis, are rejected.
4. As both the appeals arise from the common judgment delivered by the Madras High Court on August 10, 2006 and common question of facts and law arise for consideration of this Court, it is proposed to dispose them of by this common judgment.
5. In order to trace the development of events leading to filing of these appeals, it is necessary to notice certain basic facts.
6. Background<........