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2023 Supreme(Gau) 918
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GAUHATI, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH
Manish Choudhury, J.
M/s Donyi Polo Enterprise and ors. – Petitioners
Versus
The State of Assam, represented by the Commissioner & Secretary to the Government of Assam Department, Department of Welfare of Plain Tribes & Backward Classes and ors. – Respondents
Writ Petition (C) No. 2566 of 2020
Decided On : 23-08-2023
Advocate Appeared:
For the Petitioner:Mr. G. Alam, Advocate.
For the Respondent: Mr. R. Dhar, Standing Counsel
Point of Law: There is no good and sufficient reason to interfere with the Orders
Headnote:
Constitution of India,1950 - Article 226 - E-Tender Notice - Tender process - Agreement with the manufacturers of items - Authorisation Letter must be addressed to Director, Welfare of Plain Tribes and Backward Classes [WPT&BC], Assam clearly mentioning reference no. of the tender in the Authorization Letter. Para 11
Finding of the court: Court does not find any good and sufficient reason to hold that decision taken by Technical Bid Evaluation Committee to declare technical bid of petitioner disqualified on receipt of letter dated from M/s T.T.K. Prestige Limited vide Corrigendum [Annexure-7] has suffered from any infirmity and to be unjustified - In backdrop of requirements under Clause 6 of e-Tender Notice, a perusal of Authorisation Letter, stated to have been obtained by petitioners from manufacturer, M/s T.T.K. Prestige Limited, annexed as Annexure-1 to writ petition, is necessary - It is found that said Authorization Letter did not meet requirements of Clause 6 of e- Tender Notice as neither there was any reference of e-Tender Notice dated, nor same was addressed to Director, WPT&BC, Assam.
Result: Writ petition dismissed
JUDGMENT :
The writ petition has been instituted by the petitioners under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to assail a Corrigendum, issued by the Tender Evaluation Committee, constituted by the Director, Welfare of Plain Tribes & Backward Classes [WPT&BC], Government of Assam for evaluation of the bids received in response to an e-Tender Notice dated 19.07.2019, whereby, the Technical Bid of the petitioner was declared disqualified on the basis of a letter dated 20.09.2019 received from M/s T.T.K. Prestige Limited. Seeking setting aside of the said Corrigendum as well as the Orders, all dated 07.03.2020 [Annexure-11 series], whereby, supply orders had been placed for supply of pressure cookers and gas stoves in favour of the respondent nos. 4 – 14, the petitioners have preferred the writ petition. The petitioners have also sought for a direction to the respondent authorities to consider its financial bid by declaring it as the lowest bidder [L-1] in relation to the bidding process initiated by e- Tender Notice dated 19.07.2019.
2. In order to appreciate the nature of challenge, a brief narration about the previous events leading to the issuance of the impugned Corrigendum appears necessary.
3. By an e-Tender Notice bearing Tender no. DW/NIT/765/2019-20/1 dated 19.07.2019, the Director, WPT&BC, Assam invited e-tenders from intending bidders and dealers/manufacturers for supply of pressure cookers and gas stoves for ST/OBC beneficiaries on Rate Contract basis, as shown in Annexure-A in the said e-Tender Notice. It was clarified that if the bidder was not a manufacturer, it should have an agreement with the manufacturers of the items authorizing the bidder to participate in the tender process. As per the e-Tender Notice, the last date of submission of tender was 16.08.2019 and the time of bid opening was fixed at 04-30 p.m., 16.08.2019.
4. The petitioner no. 1 is a proprietorship concern and the petitioner no. 2 is its proprietor. For brevity, they are referred hereinafter as the petitioner, at places. The petitioner has asserted that he is a registered Class-I Contractor with the Directorate of Agriculture, Government of Assam and also a Class-I-A category contractor of the Assam Plains Tribes Development Corporation Ltd. The petitioner no. 1 firm is also an authorized dealer of M/s T.T.K. Prestige Ltd., a manufacturer of pressure cookers, gas stoves and kitchen appliances with its Corporate Office at Bangalore. The petitioner has contended that to participate in the tender process initiated by the e-Tender Notice dated 19.07.2019, M/s T.T.K. Prestige Ltd. had issued a Certificate of Dealership to the petitioner no. 1 firm certifying the petitioner no. 1 firm to be its dealer for Assam till 31.03.2020. As per the Certificate issued by M/s T.T.K. Prestige Ltd., annexed to the writ petition as Annexure-1, M/s T.T.K. Prestige Ltd. had certified that the petitioner no. 1 firm was their dealer and it could sell and service the products of M/s T.T.K. Prestige Ltd. for Government supply only. The Certificate further indicated that the petitioner no. 1 firm was authorized to submit a bid and also to negotiate and conclude the contract in respect of all business in the State of Assam.
5. In response to the e-Tender Notice, 25 nos. of bidders including the petitioner no. 1 firm, submitted their bids on-line and out of those 24 nos. of bidders also submitted their bids in the off-line mode. As the on-line bid of one of the bidders was not supported by any hard copy, the bid of the said bidder was rejected leaving 24 nos. of bidders in fray at the technical bid evaluation stage. The Technical Bid Evaluation Committee of the Directorate of Welfare of Plain Tribes & Backward Classes [WPT&BC] held its Meeting on 17.09.2019 for the purpose of evaluating the technical bids of the 24 nos. of participant bidders. The Technical Bid Evaluation Committee scrutinized the bids of the respective bidders qua the requirements set forth in the Tender No
