PRECISION TECHNOFAB AND ENGINEERING CO AHMEDABAD Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This order shall govern the disposal of M.P. No.1413 of 1988 and M. P. 847 of 1989, as the points of facts and law to be decided in these petitions are identical. Petition No.1413 of 88 has been filed by Precision Technofab and Engineering Company, (hereinafter called 'Precision') and Petition No.847 of 1989 has been filed by Om Metal and Minerals Pvt. Ltd. (hereinafter called 'Om Metal').

(2.) The facts leading to these petitions in short are that the Government of M.P. in the Public Health Department resolved to embark upon the Gambhir Water Supply Project, Ujjain and consequently a project was prepared by the Public Health Department of the Government of M.P. After the preparation of the project, the Executive Engineer, Project Division, Ujjain published a notice inviting tenders dated 1-6-87. The tender notice was published in important newspapers of India calling upon the registered contractors of Category S-V and other concerns of experience and reputed registered with the Office of the Engineer-in-Chief, Public Health Engineering Department, Bhopal to submit tenders in the manner prescribed. In response to the aforesaid invitation, the petitioners in both these writ petitions and four others filed their tenders. The tenders were processed in accordance with the Madhya Pradesh P.W.D. Manual. However, the tenders could not be finalised and, therefore, a call was given to the Contractors to attend the office of the Chief Engineer, Public Health Department, Bhopal on 24-10-88 for negotiation to offer revised bids, to reduce the value of the bid and to extend the validity period along with confirming the other conditions of the notice inviting tenders.

(3.) The Precision aggrieved by the order of the Chief Engineer inviting contractors for negotiation filed M. P. No.1183 of 88 wherein a prayer was made to quash letter dated 4-10-88 inviting contractors for negotiation on 24-10-1988. The petitioner Om Metal was not made a party in that petition. Therefore it made an application for intervention. In that petition the grievance of the Precision was that although their tender was the lowest, still the contract was not given to them; instead, all the contractors were called for negotiation. This Court while deciding M.P. No.1183 of 1988, vide order dated 4-11-88 held that the invitation to tenderers for negotiation is not in consonance with the P.W. Works Manual. Therefore, the order of the Chief Engineer, inviting tenderers for negotiation was quashed and the State was directed to consider the offers received by them on their respective merits.