IMPERIAL ENGINEERING COMPANY Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has participated in an online bid conducted through the 2nd respondent, which is an online platform established by the Union of India for facilitating the bidding for various contracts floated by the PSU's / Government departments. The 3rd respondent herein floated a contract through the 2nd respondent for the "maintenance of electrical equipment in BPCL - Kochi Refinery, for a period of two years". The petitioner participated in the said online bid.

(2.) By Ext.P1, it is noticed that the petitioner quoted an amount of Rs.16,80,64,568.00 inclusive of GST. The L1 pursuant to the said bid was for an amount of Rs.15,28,20,030.00. Since the petitioner was an MSME, the petitioner was entitled for certain benefits, whereby if the petitioner's (MSME) bid was within a price band of 115% from the quoted rate of non-MSME, which comes at L1, the petitioner's quoted rate would be recast and accepted at the same rate offered by the L1. Therefore, since the petitioner's quoted rate was within the said price band, the petitioner's quote was accepted and refixed at Rs.15,28,20,030.00. The petitioner accepted the said offer also. However, the problems arose subsequently, when the 2nd respondent chose to demand the "transaction charges" from the petitioner. The 2nd respondent, through Ext.P5, sought to demand an amount of Rs.8,00,854.37 towards the "transaction charges", by adopting the amount of Rs.15,28,20,030.00 as the basis. The petitioner took up a contention that the said calculation was not the correct one and the calculation ought to be made with reference to the amount of Rs.12,95,08,500.00, which was the value excluding the GST component. The 2nd respondent was not accepting the said contention, and the 2nd respondent decided to demand the "transaction charges" as calculated by it.

(3.) It is in the said circumstances, that the captioned writ petition is filed by the petitioner herein, challenging Ext.P5 issued by the 2nd respondent as above.