KLG SYSTEL LIMITED BY ITS COMPANY SECRETARY, RAM JI NIGAM S/O. S.K. NIGAM Vs. THE STATE OF KARNATAKA BY ITS SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY, BANGALORE ELECTRICITY SUPPLY COMPANY LIMITED REPRESENTED BY ITS MANAGING DIRECTOR, THE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner in this writ petition is questioning the re -tender notification dated 14.10.2009 issued by the respondents for appointment of IT Implementation Agency, even though the petitioner claims that he emerged as a successful bidder pursuant to the earlier tender notification dated 19.08.2009 under the Restructured Acceleration Power Development and Reforms. The case of the petitioner is that the 2nd respondent is wholly Government owned undertaking. The subject matter of this writ petition would revolve around the Re -structured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (for short 'APDRP') during the XI plan. In the year 2003, the Government of India approved Additional Central Assistance of Rs. 40,000 crores during the X plan at APDRP out of which a sum of Rs. 20,000 crores was towards investment component i.e., towards grant and Loan and Rs. 20,000 Crore towards grant under Incentive component. The Ministry took up an evaluation exercise of the programme through independent agencies such as IIM Ahmedabad, Administrative Staff College of India. Tata Consultancy Services. The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and other consultancy services. Suffice it to say that the Ministry of power constituted a Task Force headed by Sri. P. Abraham, former Secretary, Ministry of Power, Government of India, to assess and analyze the current effort and suggestions made by various agencies and to suggest restructuring of the programme to achieve the objectives of APDRP in a better way. The copy of the order passed by the Government of India, Ministry of Power is at Annexure 'A'. A perusal of Annexure 'A' would indicate the guidelines laid down for Restructured APDRP. The case of the petitioner is that the focus of the said APDRP programme is on actual demonstrable performance in terms of sustained energy loss reduction, establishment of reliable and automated systems for sustained collection of accurate base line data. The order at Annexure 'A' would also indicate that the Power Finance Corporation (PFC) would be the Nodal Agency to operationalise the programme under the guidance of Ministry of Power. The said order envisaged that the scheme shall be taken up in two parts. Part -A shall include the projects for establishment of baseline data and IT applications for energy accounting/auditing and IT based consumer service centers. Part -B shall include regular distribution strengthening projects. Apart from this, the programme was required to enable activities, which would be covered under part 'C' Part 'A' of the said order would relate to preparation of Base line data for the project area; Part 'B' would relate to renovation, modernization and strengthening of 11kv level Substations, Transformer Centers; and Part -C would relate to implementation of APDRP and for facilitating the process of reforms in the power sector: Part -C is required to be implemented by Ministry of Power/Power Finance Corporation, which will however include other things like preparation of template for System Requirement Specifications and all other technical data.

(2.) THE Funding Mechanism is pursuant to Part -A. Initially, 100% of the funds for the approved projects shall be provided through loan from the Government of India on the terms decided by the Ministry of Finance. The loan, which is advanced, shall be converted into a grant once it is established that the required system is achieved and verified by an independent agency The interest on the converted loan shall be capitalized. Indeed the said concession is with a rider that there shall be no conversion of grant according to Part -A, if the project in question is not completed within a period of three years from the date of sanctioning of the project. The project is deemed to have been completed on the establishment of the required system duly verified by an independent agency appointed by the Ministry of Power. As per Part -B, initially up to 25% of the funds of the project shall be provided through loan from the Government of India on the terms decided by Ministry of Finance. For special category States, Government of India loan would be 90%.

(3.) THE petitioner along with seven others offered their bids. But however, according to the petitioner, notwithstanding the fact that the petitioner was the lowest bidder inasmuch as he was L1 but nevertheless, the said bid was not accepted and a fresh tender is called for on 14.10.2009. Thus the present writ petition is filed for quashing the tender notice dated 14.10.2009 and also seeking a direction to the respondents to proceed with the tender process initiated by the Tender Invitation Notice dated 19.08.2009.