PRAVAS BEHERA Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Petitioner, who is a Scheduled Caste 'A' Class Contractor, has filed this Writ Petition seeking to quash the Office Order dtd. 28/12/2018 at Annexure-4, whereby the Superintending Engineer, Cuttack (R&B) Circle, Cuttack-Opposite Party No.2 has cancelled the Tender Call Notice No.S.E. Ctc. (R&B) 3/2018-19 at Annexure-1, pursuant to which the Petitioner was selected as L1 Bidder.

(2.) The factual matrix of the case, in a nutshell, is that the Petitioner is a Scheduled Caste 'A' Class Contractor duly registered under the P.W.D. having Registration No. 458/2016-17. The Superintending Engineer, Cuttack (R&B) Circle, Cuttack-Opposite Party No.2 invited tenders for "Construction of E Type Quarters (One Block-6 Nos) for Police Department at OSAP 6th Bn. Cuttack (Civil, El, PH)" vide Bid Identification No. S.E. Ctc.(R&B) 3/2018-19. Pursuant to the Detailed Tender Call Notice, the Petitioner submitted his bid. The bid was of two parts, namely, Technical Bid and Financial Bid. The Technical Bid is used to disqualify the Bidders, who are not eligible as per the Clauses entered under the Detailed Tender Call Notice. Then the Financial Bid is opened in order to ascertain the lowest Bidder, i.e. L1 Bidder, so as to award the tender.

(3.) Mr. Anup Kumar Pattnaik, learned Counsel appearing for the Petitioner vehemently contended that the Petitioner, being a Scheduled Caste 'A' Class Contractor, having been participated in the tender process and declared as L1, after the Financial Bid was opened, all of a sudden and without assigning any reason, the Opposite Party No.2 should not have cancelled the Tender Notice, particularly when the Petitioner had a legitimate expectation that after being declared as L1 he would be given the rightful opportunity to discharge his part of obligation, as per the Tender Call Notice, to perform the work in question. Therefore, cancellation of tender, vide impugned order dtd. 28/12/2018 at Annexure-4, cannot be sustained in the eye of law.