The central legal point established in the judgment is the significance of eligibility under the Arunachal Pradesh District Based Entrepreneurs and Professionals Act, 2015 and the relevant rules for participating in the tender process.

JUDGMENT :

N. KOTISWAR SINGH, J.

1. Heard Mr. P.J. Saikia, learned counsel for the appellant. Also heard Mr. B.D. Goswami, learned Additional Advocate General assisted by Mr. A. Chandran, learned Government Advocate, State of Arunachal Pradesh.

2. The present appeal has been preferred by the appellant against an order dated 04.09.2020 passed by the learned Single Judge in WP (C) No. 67(AP)/2020 which also disposed of the related I.As namely, I.A. (Civil) Nos. 49/2020 and 52/2020. The said writ petition was disposed of after hearing all the parties concerned.

3. The said writ petition was filed by M/s Sedi Allied Agency, through its proprietor and two co-power of attorney holders (the respondent Nos. 1-3/writ petitioners) seeking for setting aside and quashing the approval letter No. GD/S-08/2019-2020/1482 dated 12.12.2019 accepting the technical bids of the private respondent Nos. 6, 7 and 8 (the appellant herein) for the work “C/o Improvement and Extension of Likabali Township Road (10:00 Km) under NESIDS” and also for issuing of certiorari by setting aside and quashing the Corrigendum No. GD/S-08/NESIDS/2019-20/855 dated 20.09.2019 and also for issuing a mandamus by directing the respondent authorities to reject the bids of the private respondent Nos.6, 7 and 8 (the appellant herein) as they are ineligible as per the Rule 4(ii) of the Arunachal Pradesh District Based Entrepreneurs and Professionals (Incentives, Development and Promotional) Rules, 2015 and to consider and accept the bids submitted by the petitioner firm/respondent Nos. 1-3.

4. Only the brief facts, as may be relevant may be mentioned. The Executive Engineer, Gensi Division, Public Works Department, Arunachal Pradesh, issued a Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) on 05.09.2019 for online Item Rate bids on two bid system for the work “ Improvement and Extension of Likabari Township Road (10.00 Km) under NESIDS” with an estimated cost of Rs. 991.00 lakhs only from the registered contractors of Arunachal Pradesh Public Works Department (APPWD) in Class-I domiciled within territorial jurisdiction of the Lower Siang District/East Siang District (Adjacent District) as per Arunachal Pradesh District Based Entrepreneurs and Professionals Rules. Thereafter, a corrigendum was issued on 20.09.2019 by the Executive Engineer, PWD Gensi Division, whereby the eligibility of bidders for the work notified by the aforesaid NIT was amended to allow only registered Class-I contractors domiciled within the territorial jurisdiction of Lower Siang District and bidders from adjacent district of East Siang District were dispensed with.

5. The petitioner firm as well as the present appellant (respondent No. 8 in the writ petition) participated in the said NIT but the petitioner’s bid was rejected as not eligible on the ground that as the petitioner firm was not a domicile of Lower Siang District. The bids of the present appellant and the other two bidders were accepted by the authorities and were awarded the work in terms of the impugned orders dated 12.12.2019 and 20.09.2019. Awarding of tender in favour of the appellant and other two bidders were put to challenge by the respondent Nos. 1-3/petitioners in the said writ petition.

6. The learned Single Judge while examining the eligibility of the successful bidders also the examined the eligibility of the petitioner firm (respondent Nos. 1-3 herein) as per the relevant Act and Rules i.e. the Arunachal Pradesh District Based Entrepreneurs and Professionals (Incentives, Development and Promotional) Act, 2015 (hereinafter referred to as the “2015 Act”) and the rules framed thereunder, namely, the Arunachal Pradesh District Based Entrepreneurs and Professionals (Incentives, Development and Promotional) 2015 Rules (hereinafter referred to as the “2015 Rules”).

7. Referring to Section 2 of the 2015 Act, which defines as to who District Based Entrepreneurs and Professionals are and also with reference to the Rules framed thereunder, the learned Single Judge c