NEUTRON SYSTEMS PVT.LTD. Vs. GOVERNMENT OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioners, NEUTRON SYSTEMS PVT. LTD. and its Director, in the present writ petition have called in question the inaction of the Government of Orissa in its Transport Department, in not answering the queries made by the petitioners under Annexure -4 to the writ petition and in proceeding with the tender process for awarding the contract work for establishing necessary infrastructure and undertaking the management of the Process of Modernization of Transport Administration and Operationalisation of e -Governance by issuance of Smart Card Basis driving licences and registration certificates in the State.

(2.) THE petitioners case in a nutshell is that a tender notice was published by the Transport Commissioner, Government of Orissa in Commerce and Transport Department on 15.9.2005, inviting bids for private participation in Smart Card System for driving licences and registration certificates in the State of Orissa. It was intimated therein that the interested parties can down load the draft Invitation For Bidding (in short 'IFB) document from the website mentioned in the said notice between 15.9.2005 to 15.10.2005 and the cost of the draft bid document was fixed at Rs. 20,000/ - (non -refundable and non -adjustable) which was to be deposited at the time of submission of the bid document in shape of a demand draft drawn on any scheduled bank payable at Cuttack in favour of the Transport Commissioner, Orissa, Cuttack. The petitioners down loaded the said document from the website and sent necessary intimation to opp.party No.1 in the format provided at Appendix -I to Part -1 of the bid document, which was received by opp.party No.2 on 27.9.2005. On 5.10.2005, a pre -bid meeting at the secretariat of the Government of Orissa, Bhubaneswar, was held, which was attended by the representatives of the petitioners. During the course of the said meeting, the representatives of the petitioners raised various queries and sought for clarification thereon in order to enable the petitioners to submit their bids. Such queries as raised by the petitioners have been annexed as Annexure -4 to the writ petition. It is alleged by the petitioners that the clarification sought for by them was never answered in spite of reminders issued by the petitioners. The last date for submission of bids/proposals was extended from 31.10.2005 to 5.11.2005 by way of notice given in the website mentioned in the tender document. It is stated in the writ petition that the technical bids of the tenderers who offered their bids were opened on 5.11.2005. Before a final decision was taken by the Government of Orissa, the petitioners filed the present writ petition on 5.12.2005 for appropriate relief.

(3.) SEPARATE counter affidavits have been filed by the State of Orissa and the intervenor -Smart Chip Limited. The petitioners have also filed rejoinder affidavits.