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Madras High CourtWP/50443/2025dismissed

M.H.Shaheen Shaw v. The Government Of Tamilnadu

2026-02-17Honourable Ms. Justice P.T. Asha7 pages

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

DATED: 17.02.2026

CORAM

THE HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE P.T. ASHA and W.M.P.No. 56473 of 2025 1.M.H.Shaheen Shaw 2.S.B.Syed Mubeen 3.Syed Thahar Hussain 4.Mohammed Ibrahim 5.Mohammed Oomer 6.Antony G 7.Mohammed Rahman ..Petitioner(s) Vs 1.The Government of Tamil Nadu, Rep by its Additional Chief Secretary to the Government, Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments Department, Secretariat, Fort St.George, Chennai 600 009.

2.The Collector, Collectorate, Udhagamandalam (ooty), The Nilgiris 643 001.

3.The Regional Manager, Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation,Udhagamandalam (Ooty), The Nilgiris 643 001.

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4.The Manager, Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation,Udhagamandalam (ooty), The Nilgiris ..Respondent(s) Prayer: This petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying to issue a writ of certiorarified mandamus calling for the records relating to the Notice Inviting Tender No.0360/RM(N)/Ooty/2025 dated 26.11.2025 issued by the 3rd respondent and quash the same as illegal and direct the 4th respondent to permit the petitioners to carry on instant photography service to the visiting tourists as had been earlier. For Petitioner(s) :

Mr. G.Jaisivaramaraj For Respondent(s):

Mr.S.Rajesh, Government Advocate-R1&R2 Mr.M.Habeeb Rahman - R3 and R4

ORDER

Challenging the Notice Inviting Tender issued by the 3rd respondent, the petitioner is before this Court.

2. It is the case of the petitioners that they are permanent residents of Udhagamandam. The father of the petitioners and the petitioners themselves have been carrying on instant photography work at Boat House, Ooty. For this purpose, they had been issued with licences and 2/7

identity cards to carry out the photography work. It appears that on 26.11.2025, the 3rd respondent had invited a tender for providing instant photography services to visiting tourists at the Boat House, Ooty for a period of three years through a Notice Inviting Tender. Both technical as well as price bids were invited. The contract was for 3 years initially for one year extendable by two years. The petitioners had sent representations dated 03.12.2025 and 12.02.2025 to the respondents 2 and 3 requesting them to withdraw the said tender dated 26.11.2025. This request has been put into cold storage. Therefore, the petitioners seek to quash the tender notice.

3. A counter affidavit has been filed wherein it is contended that the authorities had received complaints against certain individual photographers alleging that they were demanding exorbitant charges from tourists. Therefore, the licence of the 1st petitioner was not renewed after 01.08.2025 and thereafter, the licence of petitioners 4 and 7 was not renewed after 01.09.2025. The respondents would submit that there was no proper system in place and that the activity was highly unregulated as a result of which some photographers were not only behaving rudely but were also charging huge sums from tourists. Therefore, the Tamil Nadu 3/7

Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) had decided to engage professionals and with this mind, had published the Notice Inviting Tender. The respondents would submit that it is well open to the petitioner to participate in the tender. Therefore, they sought for dismissal of the writ petition.

4. The learned counsel for the petitioners would submit that the tender notice had been issued by a person who was not competent to issue the same. He would further submit that under the Right to Information Act, he had obtained details about the TTDC. Under the said information, the powers and duties of officers and employees would clearly show that the day-to-day activities of the TTDC are managed by the Board of Directors and that the Board delegates its powers. Likewise, in the decision-making process, it is the Chairman and the Managing Director who look after the management of the TTDC, and the various Heads of Departments report to the Chairman and the Managing Director. They supervise their respective departments and are accountable for the performance of those departments. Therefore, he would submit that the Regional Manager, TTDC, Udhagamandalam, does not have the authority to float the tender. Further, the tender is silent about the price, which is 4/7

fatal to the respondents, inasmuch as competent bidders may not participate in such tenders. That apart, the petitioners are kept in the dark regarding the pricing. Therefore, they sought to quash the tender notice.

5. Heard the learned counsels on both sides and perused the materials available on record.

6. The arguments now advanced by the petitioners do not find place in the pleadings before this Court. These contentions appear to have been developed subsequently. That apart, the petitioners, who claim to have been carrying on instant photography work at the Boat House, Ooty, ought to be aware of the price to be quoted with respect to the scope of work under the impugned tender notification. The absence of a specified price in the tender notification is not fatal, since the respondents are calling for bids from persons engaged in the business of photography, and it is open to such bidders to quote their respective prices and for the authorities to select the best bid. As submitted by the learned counsel for the respondents, the petitioners have not even participated in the tender process and, without doing so, have rushed to this Court. Their intention 5/7

appears to be to continue to monopolise the photography work at the Boat House. The grounds that are raised during arguments are not the grounds on which the writ petition has been filed. The petitioners have not made out any case to quash the Notice Inviting Tender.

7. Accordingly, the writ petition stands dismissed. It is informed that this Court had earlier permitted the tender process to proceed and had only put a fetter on the issuance of the work order. 17.02.2026 srn To 1.The Additional Chief Secretary to the Government, Government of Tamil Nadu, Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments Department, Secretariat, Fort St.George, Chennai 600 009.

2. The Collector, Collectorate, Udhagamandalam (ooty), The Nilgiris 643 001. 3.The Regional Manager, Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation, Udhagamandalam (ooty), The Nilgiris 643 001.

4. The Manager, Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation, Udhagamandalam (ooty),The Nilgiris 6/7

P.T.ASHA, J.

srn and W.M.P.No. 56473 of 2025 17.02.2026 7/7