Fabrication of documents vitiates tender award; Truth is the guiding star in judicial process; Courts must deter frivolous litigation

JUDGMENT

M.S. Sonak, J. - Leave to amend to correct the cause title in so far Respondent No.2 is concerned. The amendment to be carried out forthwith.

2. Heard Mr. D. Lawande with Mr. Pradosh Dangui and Mr. A. Prabhudessai for the Petitioners, Mr. Nikhil Vaze, along with Mr. P. Vaze for Respondents No.1 and 3, Mr. Vishnuprasad Lawande, with Mr. Parimal Redkar for Respondent No.2 and Mr. G. Teles for Respondent No.4.

3. Rule. Rule is made returnable forthwith, with the consent of and at the request of the learned Counsel for the parties.

4. The Petitioners, by instituting the present Petition, question the award of tender for Premises and Facility Management Service contract for a term of three years for Zonal Office building, at Patto Plaza, Panaji by Respondents No.1 and 3-Bank of India (BOI), in favour of Respondent No.2 i.e. M/s. Raj Facility Management Services (RFMS), a Proprietory concern of Kamlakant Chaturvedi.

5. The BOI floated tender in respect of the aforesaid works initially by notice dated 5 th April, 2019. However, on 25 th April, 2019, possibly on account of certain objections being raised by the participating bidders, the said tender notice dated 5 th April, 2019, was scrapped. Fresh tenders were invited vide notice dated 16 th May, 2019, in term of which, the bids were to be submitted upto 28 th May, 2019 till 3 p.m.. It is the case of the Petitioners that technical bids were opened on 28 th May, 2019, but only 5 to 7 minutes'' time was given to the parties to see each other''s documents/certificates in order to raise any objections to the same. The final bids were, ultimately, opened on 30 th May, 2019 since all the three bidders were found to be eligible upon opening of the technical bids.

6. The records indicate that on 30 th May, 2019 itself, the Petitioners addressed a letter to the BOI, seeking leave to inspect/examine the bid documents submitted by RFMS. In the final bid which was opened on 30 th May, 2019, it was found that the bid of RFMS was the lowest and the difference between the bid submitted by the Petitioners and RFMS, was 21.45 lakhs over the contract period which was of 3 years. Accordingly, work order dated 19 th July, 2019 was issued in favour of RFMS in respect of the tender works which were to commence with effect from 1 st August, 2019.

7. During the period between 30 th May, 2019 and 19 th September, 2019 i.e. with the interregnum between the date of opening of the final bid and the issuance of work order in favour of RFMS, the Petitioners applied for the bid documents of RFMS by invoking the provisions of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI) . The record indicates that there was avoidable delay in supplying the documents though, there was really no secrecy as such with respect to the documents. As late as on 24 th July, 2019, the BOI, by email, informed the Petitioners that it was in the process of collating the documents which will be supplied ''after consulting with the legal department''. However, on 27 th July, 2019, the Petitioners came to know from the website that their application under the RTI had already been rejected by invoking the provisions of Section 8(1)(d) and Section 8(j) of the RTI Act.

8. This Petition was instituted on 30 th July, 2019. In response to the notices issued, the BOI filed an affidavit on 5 th August, 2019 placing on record bid documents relating to RFMS which were considered by the BOI for the purpose of awarding the tender to RFMS.

9. Therefore, it is only upon institution of the present Petition and the response from the BOI, that the Petitioners secured the bid documents of RFMS which were considered by the BOI for the purposes of awarding the tender in favour of RFMS. In these circumstances, the contention that this Petition was instituted after some delay is unacceptable.

10. Thereafter, pleadings were filed by all the parties, which are part of the record in the present Petition. Based upon the pleadings, final hearing in this matter commence