The petitioners, who have constituted amongst themselves consortium forbidding in the tender process initiated by Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd., the re­spondent No. 1, by the present petition has challenged the decision making process in arriving at the decision as reflected in the com­munication dated 17.12.2010 issued by the respondent No. 1 intimating the petitioner No. 1 that their bid have been found to be techni­cally non-responsive and hence the price bid would not be opened. The petitioners have also prayed for a direction to the respondent No. 1 to consider the price bid along with other eligible bidders.

2. The facts relevant for the puropose of disposal of the writ petition may be noticed as under:

(I) The Government of India, Ministry of Power (MoP) issued the office memo­randum dated 22.12.2008 approving the continuance of Accelerated Power Devel­opment & Reforms Programme (APDRP) as Central Sector Scheme during the 11th Five Year Plan with revised terms and conditions focusing on actual and demon­strable performance in terms of sustained loss reduction, establishment of reliable and automated systems for sustained col­lection of accurate baseli