S NATARAJAN Vs. TAMIL NADU ELECTRICITY BOARD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS writ petition has been filed praying for the issue of a writ of certiorari calling for the records of the first respondent, in Letter No. CE/d/ed/eec/aee/civil/f. CD/d. 109/2006 dated 17. 2. 2006 insofar as the clause "the value not less than Rs. 15 Lakhs in single contract" in the Bid Qualification requirement and quash the same as illegal.

(2.) THE case of the petitioner is that he is a registered Class-I contractor with the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board. He has done several civil works with the Board. He applied for a tender with respect to casting of 6600 Nos. of 7. 50 metres and 6328 Nos. of 8 metres poles as per REC design. The contention of the writ petitioner is that the 2nd respondent, Chief Engineer/distribution, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, Erode region, introduced a new clause in the tender, which is not found in the previous tenders or Board proceedings, without following the guidelines issued by the Board. The 2nd respondent has no authority to introduce such a new clause in contravention of the directions of the Board. It is the further case of the petitioner that a representation made by him to the 2nd respondent is kept pending without disposal. The act of the 2nd respondent is tailor-made to suit pre-identified individuals. Therefore, the petitioner has sought for quashing the aforesaid letter dated 17. 2. 06 introducing the clause "the value not less than Rs. 15 Lakhs in single contract" in the Bid Qualification requirement.

(3.) IN the counter filed by the 2nd respondent, it is contended that the petitioner has carried out pole casting works only for the value of Rs. 5,73,504/= during the year 2001-02 in a single contract. The petitioner, who took up the work of transportation of PSC poles in the Erode region in the year 2003-04 failed to carry out the work as per the agreement and in fact the Superintending Engineer of the region has proposed to claim liquidated damages for such a delay in execution of the work. The very same type of clause "the value not less than Rs. 10 lakhs in a single contract" has been adopted in the tenders for the value of the work of Rs. 16. 90 lakhs for casting of PSC poles at MG Pudur PSC Yard in Coimbatore region. Since the investment in PSC pole casting works is more on account of the cost of materials to be procured and labour charges involved, the contractors, who are quoting the tender should have the capacity of doing the work efficiently in single agreement. If the contractors not having such capacity are allowed to participate in the tender and the work is awarded to them, the execution of the work would be delayed and the same will have an adverse impact on the various targeted works of Tamil Nadu Electricity Board in Erode region. As per the tender regulation and the Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders Act, 1998 and the rules made therein, Bid Qualification requirement in this case has been prescribed. Further, the Chief Engineer, who is the tender inviting authority has every power to adopt the Bid Qualification requirements on the basis of experience, past-performance, capabilities of the tenderer, financial status and capacity of the contractors. The condition imposed by the 2nd respondent is not arbitrary since tenders were called for under open tender system and advertisement has already been published in the newspapers. It cannot be alleged that the Bid Qualification requirements were tailor-made to suit pre-identified individuals. The petitioner participated in the tender opening on behalf of Thiru V. Kuppusamy, another contractor. The 2nd respondent would further contend that there is no merit in the writ petition and, hence, it is liable to be dismissed.