Indian Railways Catering and Toursim corporation Ltd (IRCTC) on Monday said that it has been directed by the Ministry of Railways to terminate all existing contracts of mobile catering, that involves providing cooked food to passengers prepared from base kitchens. "IRCTC was further directed to treat this case as an exception arising out of pandemic situation and not to treat the case as contractor's default and hence not impose any fine for not providing catering services and also return the Security Deposit (SD) and advance license fee in full after considering valid dues," the company said. The statement comes amid the issue of mobile catering being raised in a petition by members of Indian Railways' Mobile Caterers Association (ICRMCA) in the Madras High Court on 19 January, 2021. In that order, the Madras HC had directed the Indian Railways to consider the representation by IRMCA to restore their services, which have been suspended since lockdown was announced in March 2020. The court observed that the authorities should give sufficient opportunity to members of the association to put forward their contentions and pass orders within four weeks.