MUKHERJEE TRADING CO Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The writ petition is taken up for final hearing on completion of affidavits.

(2.) Challenge in the writ petition is with regard to a tender dated Oct. 8, 2018 and its finalization.

(3.) Learned advocate appearing for the petitioners submits that, the petitioners qualify every eligibility criteria laid down in the impugned tender process. The petitioners subsequently provided the Original Equipment Manufacturer (in short 'OEM') Certificate to the authorities. The financial bid of the petitioners was 12% less than the rate of the authorities. The private respondent in whose favour, the authorities claim to have awarded the contract, submitted bid which was 0.5% less than the rate of the authorities. Therefore, the petitioners were the L-1 bidders and the private respondent was the L-2 bidder. The authorities proceeded to negotiate with L-2 bidder without taking into consideration the OEM certificate subsequently submitted by the petitioners. In the event, the petitioners were called in for negotiation, the petitioners could have lowered their rate also. The action of the authorities in disqualifying the petitioners on the technical bid is unreasonable. The authorities misconducted the tender process with the technical committee not opening the tender but the accepting authorities. The authorities failed to take into consideration the fact that, the petitioners undertook similar type of work with the authorities previously. The private respondent did not have similar nature of work experience. He refers to the various terms and conditions of the impugned tender process in support of his contentions.