(1.) THE rejection of the tender submitted by the petitioner for supply, delivery, staking and loading of 35,675 cum. of 'Machine Crushed Ballast' as per RDSO's specification at Jujumura Depot of the S.E. Railway in pursuance of Tender Call Notice Annexure -1 is sought to be challenged in this Writ Petition. According to the petitioner, the rate quoted by him though lowest, the opposite party -Railway issued the Work Order in favour of opposite party No. 4 whose rate was the highest, that too after negotiation, behind the back of the petitioner.
(2.) BEREFT of al! unnecessary details, the short facts leading to filing of the present Writ Petition are: The S.E. Railway issued a Tender Call Notice Annexure -1 inviting sealed tenders in prescribed form from eligible Contractors for supply, delivery, stacking and loading of 35,675 cum. of 'Machine Crushed Ballast' as per the specification. The approximate value was Rs. 2,24,40,000.00. The conditions of tender and eligibility criteria of the tenders as well as technical and financial criteria were specifically stipulated in the Tender Call Notice. According to the petitioner, one of the required eligibility criteria was to disclose the names of the quarries from which ballasts were to be obtained and also to submit test reports. For better understanding, Clause -v of the financial criteria is quoted hereinbelow:
(3.) A rejoinder affidavit has been filed by the petitioner taking a stand that there was no specific term in the tender call notice stipulating that the test report should be of the current year and/or proximately close to the date of the tender. It is further submitted that though the petitioner had named more than one quarry, he, in fact, intended to supply materials only from Jujumura quarry and, therefore, he submitted the test report in respect of that quarry. The report was issued by the competent authority named in the tender call notice and the same should have been accepted.