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VIJAY BISHNOI, KAUSHIK GOSWAMI
Sipl Infracon – Appellant
Versus
Union of India – Respondent
JUDGMENT :
(Vijay Bishnoi, CJ)
This writ appeal is preferred by the appellant being aggrieved with the judgment & order dated 21.11.2024 passed by the learned Single Judge in WP(C) No.132/2023.
2. Looking to the fact that the matter is regarding the award of contract in relation to an infrastructure project, with the consent of the learned counsel appearing for the parties, we have heard the matter finally at the admission stage itself.
3. The appellant, which is a start-up Company, has approached the Writ Court being aggrieved with the action of the respondent NHPC Limited, whereby the technical bid submitted by the appellant/writ petitioner in response to the Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) dated 04.08.2022 for the work of “River Bank protection/ erosion control measures on the Left Bank of River Subansiri Downstream of village Gerki 1 (RD 28 KM - 29 KM)” has been rejected as non-responsive. The technical bid of the appellant/writ petitioner was declared as non-responsive on the ground that the bidder had not furnished any Certificate of Registration with any Government/Semi Government Department/NHPC certifying it as a Class-I or Class-A type Contractor.
4. The appellant/writ petitioner
The court ruled that start-up exemptions do not apply to registration requirements for contractors, affirming the NHPC's rejection of the appellant's bid.
The court upheld the rejection of the petitioner's technical bid due to failure to meet registration requirements, emphasizing limited grounds for judicial review.
MSEs with valid Udyam Registration are exempt from turnover and experience criteria in bidding processes as per applicable regulations, and arbitrary disqualification on these grounds is unlawful.
Point of law : Under the scope of judicial review, the High Court could not ordinarily interfere with the judgment of the expert consultant on the issues of technical qualifications of a bidder when ....
Medium enterprises are not entitled to Earnest Money Deposit exemption under government rules, highlighting the necessity for proper MSME classification in tender processes.
Tender bid qualifications must adhere strictly to stated requirements; courts generally defer to the owner's interpretation unless found arbitrary.
Experience of a firm is not in its entirety attributable to each individual partner, but attributable only to the collective effort of all partners concerned.
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