LARSEN AND TOUBRO LIMITED Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner No.1 (hereinafter 'petitioner') has filed this writ petition seeking the following relief:-

(2.) The facts of the case are that the respondent No.1 floated a Request for Proposal (RFP) for 20 Fast Patrol Vessels (FPVs) for the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on 17.6.2009 from the petitioner. Similar requests for proposals were also issued to certain other entities. As per the procedure, normally adopted, the request for proposal to be submitted by the bidders was to be in two parts. i.e. a technical proposal and a commercial proposal. The need for this RFP arose because the ICG was formed in 1978 as an armed force of the union for the security of maritime zones of India. The ICG is responsible for maintaining surveillance along the coast line of 7516km and an Exclusive Economic Zone(EEZ) of 2.013 m Sq. Km. The 26/11 Mumbai Terrorist attack in the year 2008 revealed that India's long coastline and Sea areas have become more vulnerable to terrorists and other anti-social activities and the responsibility for Coastal Surveillance by ICG has increased manifold. To meet the growing maritime challenges, to overcome the gaps in the coastal surveillance and to sanitise the vast sea area, additional vessels were sanctioned for acquisition for ICG by the Government.

(3.) The petitioner submitted its bid on 19.10.2009 in the afore-stated two parts; a technical proposal and the commercial proposal. The petitioner had indicated in its commercial offer that it intended to avail of the exchange rate variation benefit. The petitioner and four other entities, including the Respondent No.4, were successful in the technical bid and they were subsequently called upon to submit their commercial offers. The commercial bids were opened thereafter on 11.1.2010. The bids were opened in the presence of the bidders/their representatives.