I.A. Ansari, J.

1. (i) The appellant herein, who is a Class-I contractor, registered with the Public Works Department (in short, 'PWD'), Government of Tripura, participated in a tender process, which had been initiated by respondent No. 4, namely, Executive Engineer (EL), Internal Electrification Division, PWD, inviting tenders from the Central and State Public Sector Undertakings/Enterprises and eligible contractors/firms/agencies of appropriate class registered with PWD/TTAADC/MEC/CPWD/Railway/Other State PWD by publishing tender notice, in this regard, dated 23.12.2009, for the work, namely, Construction of Examination Branch at Tripura University Complex, Sujamaninagar/providing concealed internal electrification thereof. The appellant, too, as indicated hereinbefore, participated in the said tender process by submitting his tender in terms of the conditions stipulated in the tender notice and by observing the formalities as required.

(ii) In the said tender process, as many as 8 (eight) tenders, including the appellant, had participated by submitting their respective tenders. The tenders were opened, on 26.01.2010, in presence of the tenderers/representatives of the tenderers, the Assistant Engineer concerned as well as the respondent No. 4, namely, Executive Engineer (EL), Internal Electrification Division, PWD, Government of Tripura, Agartala. On opening the tenders, 4 (four) tenders were found to be formal/i.e., out of 8 (eight) tenders/only 4 (four) tenders were found to be in order inasmuch as these tenders had complied with all necessary formalities. Consequently, while the said four tenders were accepted the remaining four tenders were rejected treating them as informal or not in conformity with the requirements as stipulated by the tender notice.

(iii) The appellant was found and declared by the respondent No. 4 to be the lowest formal tenderer. Upon preparing the comparative statement, respondent No. 4 recommended to the respondent No. 3, namely, Superintending Engineer 2nd Circle, Government of Tripura, the appellant's tender, for acceptance, treating him as the lowest formal tenderer. On examining the recommendations of the respondent No. 4, respondent No. 3, too, agreed with the recommendations of respondent No. 4 and forwarded the matter to the respondent No. 2, namely, Chief Engineer, PWD, Government of Tripura.

(iv) However, during the period, when the tender of the present appellant was under consideration, for decision, by the Chief Engineer, the appellant came to know, from official source, that, while the matter of issuing work order in favour of the appellant was in progress, respondent No. 2, namely, Chief Engineer, PWD, Government of Tripura, invited one informal tenderer, namely, Ratan Kumar Acharjee, for negotiation without calling any other tenderer including the appellant, though there was no protest or objection by the said Ratan Kumar Acharjee against the declaration of the appellant as the formal lowest tenderer or against declaration of the said Ratan Kumar Acharjee as the informal tenderer. The letter, whereby the ineligible (informal) tenderer, namely, Ratan Kumar Acharjee, was invited for the alleged negotiation, read as under:

To

Sri Ratan Kumar Acharjee,

Ramkrisna Palli, 79 Tilla, Kunjaban,

Agartala,

Mobile-9436561248.

Name of work: Construction of Examination Branch at Tripura University Complex, Surjamaninagar, Providing Concealed internal electrification.

Sir,

Please make it convenient to meet the Chief Engineer, PWD (R & B), Agartala, in his office chamber on 05.04.2010, at 3-30 p.m., in connection with the above mentioned work.

Yours faithfully,

Sd/-

Executive Engineer,

Project Circle, PWD (R & D), Agartala

(v) A letter was also issued to the respondent No. 4 by the Executive Engineer, Project Circle, PWD (R & D), Government of Tripura, requesting the latter to be present during the discussion to be held, in the office chamber of respondent No. 2, with the said informal tenderer, namely, Rat