BENTEX ELECTRICALS Vs. PUNJAB STATE ELECTRICITY BOARD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) M /s Bentex Electricals, carrying on business at Naraina Industrial Area, New Delhi, has filed the present writ petition under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India seeking directions against Punjab State Electricity Board, Patiala (for short 'the Board') (Respondent No. 1), to consider its case for grant of tender for supply of Energy Meters against Tender No. G-3636/96-97/PO-1; by impleading Shri Y.P. Mehra, Member (Operation) of the Board (respondent No. 2); Jaipur Metals & Electricals Limited, Railway Road, Jaipur (Respondent No. 3), Dass Hitachi Limited, Sahidabad (respondent No. 4), KEI Electricals, Phagwara (respondent No. 5); Sheroff Industries, Rampura Phul, District Bathinda (respondent No. 6); Shanghai Chine, Shanghai China (respondent No. 7); Counti Meters & Electricals, New Delhi (respondent No. 8); Capital Meters, Noida (U.P.) (respondent No. 9); Capital Power System, Noida (U.P.) (respondent No. 20); Towers & Transformers, New Delhi (Respondent No. 11) and EIymer Electronics (Havels), New Delhi (respondent No. 12).

(2.) THE case set up by the petitioner is that it is a sole proprietorship concern of Shri R.L. Chopra, which is engaged in the manufacture of Electricity Energy Meters and M.C.B.'s for the last about 7 years. The Energy Meters manufactured by the petitioner-concern are approved by the Indian Standards Institute and bear 'ISI' mark. The petitioner concern submitted the tender for the supply of single phase energy meters manufactured by it to the Board in response to Tender No. Q-3636/96-97/PO-III. The petitioner concern has a modern works at Naraina, New Delhi, where the energy meters are manufactured with the latest technology. It has its customers in various States. It supplies the energy meters to the State Electricity Boards, such as Maharashtra State Electricity Board, West Bengal State Electricity Board, Gujarat State Electricity Board, Assam State Electricity Board, Rajasthan State Electricity Board etc. It also supplies Energy Meters to various Government departments. The energy meters have been supplied to the various State Electricity Boards pursuant to purchase orders placed with it from time to time. Recently the petitioner has supplied large number of energy meters to the Chandigarh Administration during the year 1995-96. It has also received an order for the supply of 2000 energy meters from the Chandigarh Administration in the year 1996-97. The tender was publicly opened on 26.3.1996. 21 parties submitted the tender. The Board placed purchase orders with respondents Nos. 3 to 12 for the supply of energy meters as enumerated in the writ petition at pages 5 and 6. However, the tender of the petitioner was rejected by the Board wholly in an illegal and arbitrary manner. It has been, inter alia, pleaded that the Board invited tenders for the purchase of energy meters in October 1995. The last date for submission and opening of the tenders was 15.11.1995. The petitioner concern purchased the tender documents on payment of Rs. 200/- and submitted the tender for the supply of energy meters. Along with the tender a sample Energy Meter was also submitted. The tender was opened on 15.11.1995. The sample energy meter was duly inspected and tested by the Board. Thereafter a team of Inspection Engineers of the respondent-Board was deputed to inspect the workshop of the petitioner concern. On inspection the team of experts found that all the relevant testing facilities were available at the works of the petitioner concern. The Inspection Team was fully satisfied with the equipment. The petitioner concern has latest make 2 RSS Calibration Meters imported from Switzerland and Germany.

(3.) ON learning that the tender of the petitioner had been rejected by the Board, the petitioner-concern made a representation dated 26.5.1996 to the Chairman of the Board wherein it was stated that the Board had rejected the tender of the petitioner despite the fact that no deviations were observed during the site inspection or sample meter testing. It was also pointed out to the Board that the purchase orders placed with the petitioner-concern by the various State Electricity Boards were executed within the delivery period and there was no rejection. Shri Ashok Gupta, representative of the petitioner- concern, met Shri Y.P. Mehra, Member (Operation) on 28.5.1996. By that time Mr. Mehra had already rejected the tender of the petitioner-concern. However, in order to justify his illegal action, he deputed a team consisting of Mr. Harjit Singh, C.P.O., and Mr. Gill, S.E., to inspect the works of the petitioner-concern on 12.6.1996. Mr. Gill informed the petitioner-concern that in view of the clear instructions of Mr. Mehra it was not possible for them to submit a report regarding the availability of the testing facilities at the works of the petitioner. A report has presumably been obtained by Mr. Y.P. Mehra that testing facilities were not available at the works of the petitioner and this report was absolutely bogus and sham. Two more representations were submitted to the Board and it was brought to its notice about the bulk orders for the supply of 1,05,000 Energy Meters placed by the Maharashtra State Electricity Board to the petitioner concern.