GANADHI PATI CONSTRUCTION PVT LTD THROUGH ITS MANA Vs. STATE OF BIHAR THROUGH CHIEF SECRETARY, GOVT OF BI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These three writ petitions involve common issues and, with the consent of parties, are accordingly being taken up for disposal together at the stage of admission itself. The main relief sought in all three writ petitions is for quashing the order/decision communicated vide letter No. 1148 dated 15.05.2017 issued under the signature of respondent no. 3, whereby tenders relating to design and construction of Drinking Water Supply scheme for Arrah, Biharsharif, Begusarai, Darbhanga and Kishanganj under the AMRUT Scheme have been cancelled and it has been decided to initiate the process to re-tender for the said Scheme; and for a direction to the respondents to award the concerned work in pursuance of the relevant tender notices.

(2.) The broad facts of the cases are being adopted from CWJC No.7874 of 2017 for the sake of convenience. Under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation ('AMRUT') Scheme, a Water Supply Scheme was approved for five cities, namely, Arrah, Biharsharif, Begusarai, Darbhanga and Kishanganj for which the Bihar Rajya Jal Parshad (hereinafter referred to as "BRJP") invited tenders. The three writ petitioners participated in the bid, pursuant to which, in course of verification of the documents, enquiry was made by the concerned authority with regard to the experience certificates produced by the bidders. It was found that the experience certificate of the petitioner-R. C. M. Infrastructure Ltd (for short, "RCMIL") was forged in view of letter no. 4783 dated 16.01.2017 issued by the Executive Engineer, PHE, Silchar Division No. 1, Silchar. The Tender Bid Evaluation Committee in its meeting held on 24.01.2017 thus found the experience certificate of RCMIL not in accordance with Clause 4.5A(b) of the Standard Bidding Document and therefore the financial bids of only the petitioner-Ganadhi Pati Construction Pvt. Limited (for short, "GPCPL") and the petitioner-Nalanda Engicon Pvt. Limited (for short, "NEPL") were recommended for opening. The Tender Committee in its meeting held on 30.01.2017 accordingly decided to open financial bid of only two successful tenderers, namely, GPCPL and NEPL. The unsuccessful tenderer RCMIL then filed a complaint before the BRJP on 30.01.2017 with copies to various other authorities alleging that GPCPL and NEPL had submitted wrong documents. In this regard a Five-Men Committee came to be constituted by the Urban Development and House Department (for short, the "UDHD") which submitted its preliminary enquiry report dated 27.02017 (Annexure6) ("the first report") finding that material irregularities had been committed by the BRJP because of having acted in undue haste in the tender process, as it was found that GPCPL and NEPL had also not submitted proper documents and ought to have been disqualified at the stage of technical bid itself.

(3.) The Tender Committee of the BRJP in turn submitted its report dated 11.02017 (Annexure-8) ("second report") offering its comments, explanations and clarifications on all the issues raised in the first report of the UDHD, and in conclusion, it disagreed with the findings of the UDHD Committee. All these aspects were then examined in detail by the Five-Men Committee of the UDHD which submitted its final report dated 104.2017 (Annexure-J to the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the respondent-UDHD) (the "third report") , inter alia, finding material irregularities in the documents submitted by all the three tenderers whose bids ought to have been rejected at the first stage of the technical bid itself.