JUDGMENT :

1. This writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been preferred claiming the following reliefs:

“It is, therefore, most humbly and respectfully prayed that this writ petition may kindly be allowed and:-

1. By an appropriate writ, order or direction, the decision/order of declaring respondent no.4 M/s. United Coal Carrier and respondent no.5 JRL Mining Private Limited as successful in evaluation of their techno commercial bid may kindly be declared as illegal and contrary to the conditions prescribed in tender dated 23.03.2023 and subsequent corrigendum and the same may kindly be quashed and set aside;

2. By an appropriate writ, order or direction, the respondent RSMML may kindly be directed to issue LOI strictly in accordance with law;

3. Any other appropriate order or relief which this Hon’ble Court may deem just and proper in the facts and circumstances of this case may also kindly be passed in favor of the humble petitioner.”

2. Brief facts of the case, as placed before this Court by Mr.Vikas Balia, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Mr. Falgun Buch, Mr. Sachin Saraswat and Mr. Gopal Krishna, are that the petitioner is registered a Private Limited Company.

2.1. The respondent-Rajasthan State Mine and Minerals Limited (RSMML) issued an E-Tender No. RSMM/CO/GGM (Cont)-25/2022- 23 dated 23.03.2023 for loading of limestone gitti of various sizes into trippers/dumpers from crusher hopper(s) and/or different stacks lying at Company’s Sanu Mines, District Jaisalmer, its transportation from Mines to railway siding at Sanu Railway Station and its unloading, stacking, watch & ward and mechanized loading of limestone gitti into railway wagons using front end loaders etc.

2.2. The last date for submission of the online tender was fixed as 24.04.2023 and the date of opening of techno commercial bid was 25.04.2023. The pre-qualification criteria for the tender was minimum turnover of Rs.45.76 crores in any one of the preceding five financial years.

2.3. Thereafter, vide Corrigendum no.1 dated 21.04.2023, the respondent amended clause no.5.4.1 of the of the pre-qualification criteria by reducing the minimum net worth of the tenderer to Rs.5 crores in any one of the last two financial years, and extended the last date of submitting the tender in question, to 16.05.2023.

2.4. The petitioner-Company, for participating in the tender process in question, submitted its techno commercial bid as well as the financial bid alongwith all the relevant documents.

2.5. The techno commercial bid was opened on 25.05.2023 and there were four other participants in the tender process in question, including respondents no. 4 & 5. Thereafter, on 30.06.2023 at around 6:00 PM, the petitioner-Company received an E-mail, whereby it was informed that the techno bid of the petitioner-Company has been admitted and the financial bid would be opened on same day at 6:05 PM. The petitioner-Company was ranked as L3, while respondents no.4 & 5 were ranked as L1 and L2 respectively in the financial bid; and respondents no. 4 & 5 were declared successful by the respondent -RSMML in tender process in question.

3. Learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner-Company submitted that the respondent no.4 does not have any experience of transporting, unloading, & wagon loading of industrial minerals, and therefore, the respondent-RSMML has committed an illegality in declaring the respondent no.4 as successful in the tender process in question.

3.1. It was further submitted that the respondent no.4 does not fulfill condition no.(ii) of Clause 5.4.1 of the tender document, because as per the said clause, the tenderer should have experience of successful execution of transportation and loading work of industrial minerals, but the respondent no.4 has experience only with regard to transportation and wagon loading of coal, and the coal does not come under the definition of the ‘industrial minerals’.

3.2. It was also submitted that as per Indian Mineral Yearbook issue