VINOD KUMAR JAIN Vs. STATE OF JHARKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present writ petition has been filed by the petitioner Vinod Kumar Jain (hereinafter to be referred as P-1) for quashing of the decision of the Tender Committee dated 03.10.2019 as uploaded in Form No.5B by respondent no.4 to the extent the technical bid of the P-1 has been declared as non-responsive to Clause 16.3 of the Instructions to Bidders (ITB) to Standard Bidding Document (SBD) in respect of the work pertaining to "Reconstruction of Meral-Bana-Ambakhoriya Road (MDR-140) (hereinafter to be referred as W-1). Further prayer has been made for issuance of direction upon the respondent-State of Jharkhand to declare the technical bid of the P-1 as responsive and consequently to open the price bid of the P-1 and award the work in question to it by issuing of Letter of Intent/Work Order if the petitioner's financial bid is found to be the lowest.

(2.) The factual background of the case as stated in the writ petition is that the respondent-State of Jharkhand vide e-Tender Notice dated 07.06.2019 invited tenders for Reconstruction of Meral-Bana- Ambakhoriya Road. The P-1 participated in the said tender namely W- 1 and as per Clause 16 of the ITB to Standard Bidding Document (in short to be referred as SBD) of the said tender, submitted requisite bid security of Rs.133.58 lakhs by way of bank guarantee in the format as prescribed in the SBD. However, the said e-Tender was cancelled by the State respondents vide notice dated 20.08.2019 issued by the respondent no.4 and the original bank guarantee submitted by the P- 1 was returned back to it. Thereafter, a fresh e-Tender notice dated 20.08.2019 was issued for the same work with a similar condition contained in Clause 16 of the ITB to SBD to furnish a bid security of Rs.133.58 Lakhs. Pursuant to the 2nd Call tender dated 20.08.2019, the P-1 again participated in the said tender process and submitted the same bank guarantee after getting it amended by its banker. However, the technical bid of the P-1 was declared non-responsive by the Tender Evaluation Committee of the respondent authorities on the ground that its bid was non-responsive to Clause 16.3 of the ITB to SBD. The P-1, having come to know about the said fact, filed representation before the respondent no.3 on 04.10.2019 requesting therein to revise the decision taken by the Tender Evaluation Committee, however the respondents did not pay any heed of the same.

(3.) The present writ petition has been filed by RAMIYA-HS(JV) (hereinafter referred as P-2) for quashing the Government e-Procurement System Tender Summary Report in connection with NIT No.RCD/Garhwa/726/19-20(2nd Call) dt.20.08.2019 for award of contract for construction of Meral-Bana-Ambakhoriya Road (MDR-140) (W-1) (Length-0.00 to 36.629 Km) dated 07.10.2019 along with appendix thereof at serial no.7 qua the petitioner RAMIYA-HS(JV) (70:30), Gaya whereby it has been declared non-responsive in technical bid due to alleged non satisfaction of clause 2.7.1(ii) of the Addendum/Amendments to the Instruction to Bidders (ITB) to SBD. Further prayer has been made for issuance of direction upon the State respondents to declare the technical bid of P-2 as responsive as it satisfied all the criteria of the SBD and consequently to open the Financial Bid of the P-2 as well as to declare it L1 in as much as it has quoted the bid price of Rs.107,55,36,040.91/- as against the minimum bid price quoted by one M/s Agrawal Global Infratech Private Limited @ Rs.111,78,68,989/-.