VA TECH WABAG LIMITED Vs. STATE OF JHARKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitionerM/s VA Tech Wabag Limited has approached this Court with the following prayers:

(2.) BRIEFLY stated, the facts of the case are narrated thus: The petitionercompany claiming itself one of the leading companies in the world in the water treatment field, was awarded work order dated 30.07.2011 for the O&M contract for the Dhanbad Water Supply Scheme Phase1 for two years. Previously also the petitioner has executed water R.O. Plant at Chennai, Games Village Water Treatment Plant at New Delhi, Wastewater Treatment Plant at Jamnagar Refinery, MBR Technology Wastewater Treatment Plant at Muscat, Ultrafiltration Plant for Wastewater Treatment at Vizag etc. Since the period for O and M contract for Dhanbad Water Supply Scheme PhaseI was coming to an end, the respondentDepartment of Drinking Water and Sanitation issued eProcurement notice dated 25.06.2013. In the notice dated 25.06.2013 the scope of work was enlarged by including small Water Treatment Plant at Maithan also. The estimated cost for execution of work was Rs. 9.47 crores for a period of 24 months. The bid was required to be submitted in online format in two folders containing the technical bid and the price bid separately. Specific requirement of experience of the bidders was also indicated in the Tender condition and it was made clear that the bid of the tenderers, not having requisite eligibility would not be considered. The bidders were required to submit experience certificates indicating:

(3.) THE petitioner further claims that in terms of Clause 1.12.2.2 of the Tender condition, in a JointVenture, "lead partner" of the JV was required to meet atleast 50% of the eligibility under Clause 1.9. in proportion to partnership in JV, but not less than 50% of the eligibility criteria provided under Clause 1.9. The respondentDepartment uploaded the PreBid Clarification and Corrigendum on 10.07.2013 however, there was no indication of a discussion as to clarification of Clause 1.9. The information available on 23.07.2013 did not disclose the JointVenture of the respondent no. 4 with M/s Neo Parisrutan Pvt. Ltd, M/s Hindustan Architects Pvt. Limited and M/s Basak Engineering. The petitioner who has successfully executed the work order dated 30.07.2011 submitted its bid on 23.07.2013. The bid submitted by the respondent no. 4 discloses that the respondent no. 4 entered into MoU with the aforesaid three companies for execution of the work. The respondent no. 4 submitted its bid on the basis of credential of the above collaborators in the following manner: