The requirement of a certificate from the Indian Bankers Association as an eligibility criterion for participation in a tender is not arbitrary or unreasonable, as it denotes the credibility and competence of the transport operator.

Heard Shri S. Deb, learned senior counsel for the petitioner, Shri T.D. Majumder, learned counsel for the respondents Nos. 1 and 2 and Mr. S. Talapatra, learned counsel for the respondent No. 3.

2. The dispute relates to allotment of works order to respondent No. 3 by respondent Nos. 1 and 2. The petitioner, respondent No. 3 and another firm submitted quotations in response to the tender notice for the purpose of clearing and unloading bitumen from New Gauhati Railway station to Agartala for the year 1998-99.

3. The petitioners case is that he was the lowest bidder, but in spite of that the respondent No. 2 issued the work order in favour of the respondent No. 3 in a biased and arbitrary manner.

4. It would appear that a contractor falling in one of the following three categories were made eligible to participate in the bid :

1) Enlisted contractors of Tripura Public Works Department in appropriate class; or

2) Transport carriers duly registered under the Indian Bankers Association; or

3) Contractors registered in MES, Railway, C.P.W.D.

5. From the comparative statement sheet submitted by the learned counsel for the State, it would appear that neither the petitioner nor the respondent No. 3 are enlisted contractors of appropriate class and they are also not registered contractors of C.P.W.D. Railway etc. The respondent No. 2 selected the respondent No. 3 only on consideration that he has been able to produce a certificate from Bankers Association although the rate quoted by him is higher than the rate quoted by the petitioner.

6. On perusal of the comparative statement sheet, I find that the difference of rate between the petitioner and the respondent No. 3 is marginal. The selection of respondent No. 3 has been made on consideration of the certificate issued by the Indian Bankers Association and experience in discharging works of similar nature.

7. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the requirement of certificate from Bankers Association is superficial and, as such, non-submission of such certificate by the petitioner cannot be a valid ground for refusal of acceptance of his tender. It was further contended that in response to their query, the Bankers Association vide letter dated 6th May, 1997 (Annexure-6) informed that the Association does not maintain any approved list of transport operators but they only recommend the name of transport operators to the member bank to enable them to decide whether they would accept the lorry receipts issued by the recommended transport operators for discounting or purchase. This is undoubtedly a privilege which the recommended transport operators are entitled to for the purpose of receipts issued by them for discounting or purchase.

8. The recommendation by the Bankers Association is made on fulfilment of certain requirements. This is evident from the letter dated 26-8-1997 issued by the Syndicate Bank and the letter dated 20th March, 1998 issued by the Indian Banks Association while revalidating the recommendation for a further period of 3 years ending on 28th February, 2001. By this recommendation the transport operator become eligible to operate as transporters of the member Banks. This is clear from the letter dated 20-3-1998. Therefore, this recommendation is undoubtedly a symbol denoting credibility and competence of the transport operator and, from this point of view, the stipulation that such recommended transporters shall be eligible to bid in the tender cannot be said to be superficial. What would be the eligibility criteria for participation in a tender is a matter to be decided by the State authority and this being a policy-decision, a Court in exercise of its discretionary powers will interfere with such decision only when it is arbitrary, unreasonable and irrelevant.

9. In Civil Rule No. 234 of 1996, the same question regarding certificate of Banks Association came up for consideration. The judgment passed by the learned single Judge shows that the same three st