ANAND AND CO Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has filed the present petition under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereafter the "A&C Act"), inter alia, praying that the operation of the letter dated 22.04.2021, whereby the respondent has rejected the petitioner's tender and blacklisted it for a period of one year from participating in any CPWD tenders, be stayed.

(2.) The disputes between the parties stem from the tender floated by the respondent for "Comprehensive Maintenance Work at CGO Complex Lodhi Road, New Delhi 2020-23 (SH: Civil and Electric work)". On 03.12.2020, the respondent (hereafter the "CPWD") issued a Notice Inviting Tenders (NIT) for providing comprehensive maintenance of the CGO Complex, which houses offices of various organisations of the Central Government. The petitioner's bid was the lowest and by a Letter of Acceptance dated 30.12.2020 (hereafter the "LoA"), CPWD accepted the petitioner's tender at a value of Rs.18,31,33,102/-.

(3.) In terms of the NIT, the successful bidder was required to submit a Performance Guarantee within a period of seven days from the date of the LoA. The petitioner was also required to submit documents from the Associated Specialized Agencies/OEM/Authorized Service Provider of Specialised E&M Services along with the bid. The NIT also expressly provided that if the same were not furnished prior to or at the time of submission of the tender, the same could be submitted along with the Performance Guarantee after the tender was accepted. However, an undertaking to the aforesaid effect was required to be submitted along with the tender. An agreement/ understanding with the Specialised Agencies that they would continue to extend support and provide spares, was essential as the same was necessary for maintenance of equipment sourced from them.