PRASAD MATHEW Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner, an 'A' Class registered contractor of the Kerala Public Works Department, has approached this Court in this Writ Petition seeking a writ of mandamus commanding the respondents 1and 2 to consider his e -tender submitted pursuant to Exhibit P1 notification in the light of Exhibit P3 Bid Submission Confirmation and Online Payment Information acknowledging receipt of tender details along with online payment of EMD and tender submission fee as valid and eligible for consideration of award of work under Exhibit P1 notification and for other consequential reliefs.

(2.) THE second respondent issued Exhibit P1 notification inviting online tenders/bids for the work of 'improvements to Vennikkulam -Ranni Road -1st reach (km. 0/00 to 5/000)' with an estimate of Rs.2,98,19,048/ -, from registered bidders of the Public Works Department (PWD) who have successfully completed at least one similar work costing more than 40% of the estimate Probable Amount of Contract (PAC) of the work during the last 5 years. As per Exhibit P1 notification, Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) of Rs.7,45,500/ - and Tender Submission Fee of Rs.26,250/ - should be remitted through online payment mechanism for e -Government Procurement system of Government of Kerala. The last date and time of receipt of tender/bids was 02/08/2013 upto 4 pm and the date and time of opening of tender was 08/08/2013 at 11 am. Online tenders/bids are to be accompanied with a preliminary agreement executed in Kerala Stamp Paper worth Rs.100/ -. Tenders/bids received online without EMD, cost of tender documents/bid submission fee and preliminary agreement will not be considered and shall be summarily rejected.

(3.) BY order dated 23/08/2013, this Court, while admitting the Writ Petition, granted an interim stay of further proceedings pursuant to Exhibit P1, for a period of one month, and directed respondents 1 and 2 to file an affidavit as to the facts and figures. This Court made it clear that the order will not bar the way of respondents 1 and 2 in getting necessary confirmation from the SBT, where the account of the Department is maintained, as to the satisfaction of the due amount by the petitioner through the Bank of the petitioner, i.e., South Indian Bank, in exercise of the 2nd option as stipulated in Exhibit P7 and if the remittance has been made on time, to open the price bid of the petitioner as well and to proceed with further steps for allocation of the tender. The said interim order was extended from time to time and later it was extended until further orders on 19/02/2014.