ASSAM FORT Vs. STATE OF ASSAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard Mr. B Kaushik, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. B Choudhury, learned counsel for the respondents in the Agriculture Department of the Government of Assam.

(2.) The respondent no. 2 Director of Agriculture, Assam had issued an e-procurement notice dtd. 19/9/2022 for supply of micronutrient fertilizer for the year 2022-23 under various schemes. The Instructions to Bidders at Clause v. provides that the average annual turnover of the bidder for the last 3 (three) financial years i.e. 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 should not be less than 20% of the total quoted value in the tender. Clause vii. provides that the bidder should have the experience in supplying the concerned items to the Government Departments/ Government undertakings for at least 20% of the required quantity of items for the years 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22.

(3.) A reading of the aforesaid two conditions in the Instructions to Bidders makes it discernable that the bidders should have the experience of supplying the required items in the required quantity for at least three preceding years prior to the tender notice. A subsequent corrigendum dtd. 10/10/2022 had been issued by the Director of Agriculture, Assam which provides that the experience of supplying 20% of the required items for three years had been reduced to 15%. However, a further provision had been added that if a manufacturer participates in the bid process, in that case, the manufacturer should have three times the production capacity of the required quantity of items for the last three financial years i.e. 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 in lieu of the experience of supplying the 15% of the required items to a Government Department/Government undertaking for the last three years.