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M. NAGAPRASANNA
Mahalakshmi Engineering Works A Proprietorship Concern Represented By Its Proprietor Sri Nagaraju S/o Sannaswamy – Appellant
Versus
Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited – Respondent
Locus to Challenge a Tender:
Only participants in the tender process have the standing (locus standi) to question the tender conditions, process, or any related acts by the tendering authority. A prospective bidder who does not participate cannot challenge the terms of the tender documents on grounds of unfairness or illegality after the bidding period has closed. This applies even if the challenger claims eligibility or belongs to a reserved category, as non-participation precludes any right to raise grievances that could affect the rights of actual participants.[Point of Law] (!) [3000493960009][3000493960010] (!) (!) (!)
Key Principle from the Judgment: - Challenges must be raised before bids close if based on perceived flaws in tender terms. - Even if a bid is submitted and rejected on flawed grounds, a challenge may be possible—but non-participants lack locus entirely. - Courts will dismiss petitions from non-participants without examining merits, as they cannot "whittle down" rights of eligible bidders who complied with the process. (!) [3000493960010] (!) (!)
Application in this Case: Petitioners, despite claiming Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe status and eligibility for reserved tenders, admitted non-participation in any of the 50 tenders (neither reserved nor general). Thus, they had no locus to challenge the re-tendering of 10 quashed tenders or the overall process, leading to dismissal of the writ petition.[3000493960006][3000493960009][3000493960011] (!)
Result: Petition dismissed for lack of locus; no adjudication on tender terms' validity.[3000493960011]
ORDER :
The petitioners are before this Court calling in question 40 tenders floated by the respondent/Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (‘BESCOM’ for short).
2. Heard Sri Nandakumar C.K., learned senior counsel appearing for petitioners and Sri.S.Sriranga, learned senior counsel appearing for respondent.
3. Brief facts that lead the petitioners to this Court in the subject petition, as borne out from the pleadings, are as follows:-
The 1st petitioner claims to be a proprietorship concern engaged in electrical contract works which would include repair and servicing of electrical transformers and claims to have a valid licence issued by the competent authority to undertake such works. The 2nd petitioner is an independent rate contractor engaged in the same kind of electrical works. The proprietor of the 1st petitioner/Company and the 2nd petitioner claim to belong to Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe. The respondent/BESCOM issued a notice inviting tenders (‘NIT’ for short) for repair, reconditioning and distribution of transformers of various capacity, at Transformers Repair Centers at different Taluka Divisions coming within the jurisdiction of BESCOM. The notification was iss
Point of Law : Only a participant can question the tender, the challenge raised by petitioners who are not the participants in the subject tender, would thus tumble down. [Para 6]
The main legal point established in the judgment is the requirement to specify the tender value in the notification inviting tender, as mandated by Rule 9 of the Karnataka Transparency in Public Proc....
The main legal point established in the judgment is that the work of repairing transformers does not fall within the definition of 'Construction Works' under the 1999 Act, and therefore, reservation ....
Judicial review in tender matters is limited; unsuccessful bidders cannot later challenge tender conditions they participated under.
Point of Law : A tender process is set aside by courts only in exceptional circumstances and certainly not because the terms of the tender do not suit an individual prospective bidder.
A tender is essentially a contract between two parties and merely because one party to contract is State, basic character of transaction does not change.
Divisible tenders mandate 5% reservation for SC/ST enterprises matching lowest bid under TN Tenders Act.
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