NORTHEAST ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard Mr. R. Choudhury, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. S. Mitra, learned counsel for the respondent no.1. Mr. D. Senapati, learned counsel appears for the respondent no.2.

(2.) The petitioner is aggrieved by the disqualification of his Technical Bid, pursuant to the Invitation for Bid (IFB) dtd. 16/4/2024 (hereinafter referred to as the "NIT") for "Composite Works on Open Domestic Competitive Bidding Basis".

(3.) The petitioner's case is that the petitioner being a Micro and Small and Small Enterprise (in short "MSE"), the petitioner was not required to deposit the Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) for participating in the tender process, in terms of the 2012 Public Procurement Policy (PPP-2012) issued by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India. However, in spite of the exemption given to the MSEs in terms of PPP-2012 exempting them from submitting EMD, the petitioner's Technical Bid has been disqualified on the said ground.