CHAIRMAN AND MANAGING DIRECTOR BHARAT PETROLEUM CORPORATION LIMITED & ORS. Vs. ARJIK CARRIER PVT. LTD.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Intra-Court Appeal has been preferred for setting-aside the order dated 22.02.2018 passed by the learned writ Court in Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.174 of 2018 by which the learned writ Court has been pleased to allow the writ application with a direction to the respondent authorities to open the financial bid of the petitioner and to proceed further in the matter in accordance with law.

(2.) Learned counsel representing the appellants submits that the learned Single Judge has allowed the writ application without appreciating that the conditions mentioned in the Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) had prescribed a condition inter alia that the tenderer had to submit the tender documents in an envelope duly sealed with gum/adhesive and it was made clear that stapler pins were not to be used. It is his submission that the respondent while participating in the e-tender process for supply of seven tank lorries even though submitted his tendered documents through e-tender process, while sending the tendered documents to the respondent authorities in physical form he sent his documents in a stapled envelope. It is submitted that the conditions prescribed in the NIT cannot be bracketed as a clause which is hyper technical and the learned writ Court is not justified in exercising its writ jurisdiction and power of judicial review therein in the facts and circumstances of the case.

(3.) On perusal of the pleadings available on the record, we find that the tendered documents of the writ petitioner were rejected only on the ground that the documents submitted to the respondents were in a stapled envelope. While it is true that in normal course this Court sitting in its writ jurisdiction would not like to impose its own conditions in lieu of the conditions prescribed in the NIT but at the same time, the Court cannot be a mute spectator if it is found that the decision to reject the tender document of a tenderer is arbitrary and is based on a totally irrelevant or insignificant considerations.