SRI SCL INFRATECH LIMITED Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, a Joint Venture is before this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for the following reliefs:

(2.) Brief facts of the case are that the second respondent issued tender notification dtd. 8/4/2022 inviting tenders for providing "Drinking Water Supply Facilities to 702 Rural Habitations and 5 ULBs of Basavanabagewadi, Indi and Vijayapura Talukas of Vijayapura District, Karnataka through Design, Build, Operate and Transfer [DBOT] mode under Multi-village Drinking Water Supply Scheme". In pursuance of the above stated tender notification, petitioner-Joint Venture as well as respondent No.4 and respondent No.5, a Joint Venture participated in the tender process. The technical bid was opened on 28/4/2022. On opening the technical bid, the second respondent prepared a statement of details of the bids received and placed it before the Scrutiny Committee. Tender Scrutiny Committee held its first meeting on 18/5/2022 and took decision to seek certain clarification from respondent No.5-Joint Venture consisting of respondent Nos.6 to 8. On 25/5/2022, the second respondent addressed a letter to sixth respondent seeking certain clarification. Immediately thereafter, petitioner is said to have submitted a representation dtd. 25/5/2022 [Annexure-F] to respondent No.1 pointing out shortfalls in the bid submitted by respondent No.5. The fifth respondent submitted clarification and additional documents on 26/5/2022. The second meeting of the Tender Scrutiny Committee was held on 30/5/2022 wherein it is held that along with petitioners, the 5th respondent-Joint Venture is also qualified technically and declared eligible to open financial bid. Aggrieved by the same, the petitioners are before this Court.

(3.) Heard the learned senior counsel Sri.S.S.Naganand for learned counsel Smt.Sumana Naganand for petitioners, Sri.Dhyan Chinnappa, learned Additional Advocate General along with Sri.Vinod Kumar.M., learned Additional Government Advocate for respondent Nos.1 to 3 and Sri.D.N.Nanjunda Reddy, learned senior counsel for Sri.Shivaprasad Shanthanagoudar, learned counsel for respondent Nos.5 to 8. Perused the writ petition papers.