SENGAR SECURITY AND LABOUR SERVICES PRIVATE LTD. MANAGING DIRECTOR DHARMVEER SINGH Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard through Video Conferencing.

(2.) The petitioner is a Private Limited Company registered under the Companies Act, 1956. The petitioner submitted its bid in response to the Notice Inviting Tender dated 04.06.2020 (Annexure P-3) issued by the respondent No.2 for providing manpower to the Dugdh Sangh. As per Condition No.44 of the Notice Inviting Tender, the tenderers were required not to offer zero percent service charge with a further stipulation that if such service charge is quoted by the bidder, in that event the employer would have the right to reject the bid. Since the petitioner quoted 0.010% as the service charge, the respondent treated its technical bid as non-responsive and accordingly rejected the same.

(3.) Shri Shailendra Singh Kushwaha, learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that as per the Ministry of Finance, Government of India circular dated 28.01.2014 (Annexure P-5), if the Firm has quoted 'Nil' service charge, then only its bid can be treated as non-responsive. In the present case, the petitioner has quoted service charge as 0.010%, therefore, its offer cannot be taken as zero percent. It is contended that the respondent No.2 has illegally issued the work order in favour of the respondent Nos.3 and 4 by dividing the work into 50% each despite the fact that in the financial bid, the rates offered by the petitioner were the lowest.