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2010 Supreme(J&K) 611
HIGH COURT OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR AT JAMMU
Aftab H. Saikia, Muzaffar Hussain Attar, JJ.
Shivam Enterprises -Appellant
Versus
Food Corporation of India & Ors. -Resopndent
LPA (OW) No. 20-2010
Decided On : 10-12-2010
Pranav Kohli, Ankur Gupta, Hancy Maini, Sunil Sethi, Ravi Abrol, K.S. Johal, Ajay Kumar Gandotra.
The decision-making process of a government authority in evaluating tender bids for contracts cannot be questioned, provided it complies with prescribed norms and procedures.
Headnote:
Tender Rejection - Transportation Contract - NIT - [Work Experience, Property Ownership] - The court upheld the rejection of the appellant's tender bid for a transportation contract by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) as the appellant failed to satisfy the eligibility criteria of work experience and property ownership as per the Notice Inviting Tender (NIT). The rejection was found to be in compliance with the terms and conditions of the NIT and not vitiated by arbitrariness, unfairness, or illegality. The court held that the decision-making process of FCI in evaluating the tender bid cannot be questioned and that the authority has the freedom to fix the terms of the contract, subject to compliance with prescribed norms and procedures.
Fact of the Case:
The appellant, a tenderer, challenged the appointment of road transport contractors by FCI to private respondents. The appellant claimed to be a qualified contractor and submitted bids for transportation contracts as per the NIT. FCI rejected the appellant's technical bid, citing lack of work experience and property ownership as per the NIT eligibility criteria. The appellant approached the Writ Court seeking relief, but the court refused to grant any, upholding FCI's rejection of the tender bid.
Finding of the Court:
The court found that the rejection of the appellant's tender bid was in compliance with the NIT terms and conditions and not vitiated by arbitrariness, unfairness, or illegality. The court held that the decision-making process of FCI in evaluating the tender bid cannot be questioned and that the authority has the freedom to fix the terms of the contract, subject to compliance with prescribed norms and procedures.
Issues: The primary issues raised by the appellant were whether the appellant's technical bid complied with the NIT conditions and whether the rejection order was passed after considering all the material and relevant facts/considerations provided by the appellant in the Technical Bid.
Ratio Decidendi: The court upheld the rejection of the appellant's tender bid, emphasizing that the decision-making process of FCI in evaluating the tender bid cannot be questioned and that the authority has the freedom to fix the terms of the contract, subject to compliance with prescribed norms and procedures.
Final Decision: The appeal was dismissed, and no costs were awarded.
1. Heard Mr. Pranav Kohli, Mr. Ankur Gupta and Ms. Hancy Maini, learned counsel for the appellant.
2. Also heard Mr. Sunil Sethi, learned Senior counsel assisted by Mr. Ajay Kumar Gandotra and Mr. Ravi Abrol, learned counsel representing Food Corporation of India (for short, `FCI') as well as Mr. K. S. Johal, learned counsel appearing for the private respondents.
3. The legality and correctness of the judgment and order dated 05.04.2010, passed by the learned Single Judge in OWP no. 314/2010, has been questioned in this Letters Patent Appeal.
4. The controversy raised in the above writ petition, initiated by the appellant as writ petitioner, being unsuccessful tenderer, pertains to challenge of the appointment of road transport contractors by FCI to the private respondents.
5. The said writ petition was dismissed by the impugned judgment and order holding that no fault could be found with the decision making process of the respondents to reject the case of the appellant as it was found that the appellant was not a transport contractor and the Court could not go into the merits of the decision taken by the respondents in rejecting the tender of the appellant.
6. Facts of the case in brief is that FCI floated Notice Inviting Tender (hereinafter referred to as `NIT'), being Notification no. Stg/32(3) JK/Tender/2008-09 Vol. 1 dated 09.02.2010 thereby inviting Tenders for appointment of Road Transport Contractors for movement of stock by road from FSD's New Godown/Chatha/Nagrota(Jammu) to various centers as per the terms and conditions contained in NIT.
7. For the sake of convenience, relevant portion of the tender notice dated 09.02.2010, essential for adjudication of the controversy in hand, may be reproduced as under:
"TENDER NOTICE
No.Stg/32(3) JK/Tender/2008-09 Vol. 1 dated 9.2.2010
Food Corporation of India J&K Region invites tenders under "Two Bid System" from financially sound parties having business competency for appointment of Road Transport Contractors for movement of stocks by road from FSDs New Godown/Chatha/Nagrota (Jammu to various centres as mentioned below for a period of two years:-
| Centre From | To | Earnest money (Fig.in lacs) | Security (Fig. in corers) | Estimated value of contract (Fig. in crores.) |
| FSD, New Godown/Chatha/Nagrota (Jammu) | Srinagar | 63.78 | 2.24 | Rs.31.89 |
| -do- | Lethpora | 32.84 | 1.15 | Rs.17.24 |
| -do- | Mirbazar | 22.20 | 0.78 | Rs.11.10 |
| -do- | Budgam | 25.34 | 0.89 | Rs.12.67 |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| -do- | Khillani | 6.08 | 0.22 | Rs.3.04 |
Tender documents containing the terms and conditions can be obtained in person or through authorized representative from the office of General Manager. FCI, Regional Office, Jammu on payment of Rs. 500/- (Rs. Five hundred only) from 10.2.2010 to 2.3.2010 during office hours. The tender documents i.e. Technical Bid and Price Bid shall be received on 5.3.2010 upto 2 PM and shall be opened on the same day on 3 PM in FCI, Regional Office Jammu in presence of tenderers or their authorised representatives who may wish to be present.
A. Work Experience: (Enclose experience certificate for rake handling and transportation duly obtained form manufacturer/handling agency/government department/PSU/public Ltd Company dealing in fertilizers, food grains, cement or similar products.
The tendered should have executed in the immediately preceding two years transport contracts, the total value of which is not less than 50 % or the value of the contract to be awarded.
OR
The tenderer should have executed in the immediately preceding two years any single contract the value of which is not less than 25% of the contract to be awarded.
2. The tenderer must possess an immovable property in his own name (excluding the residential house) equivalent to at least 10% of the value of contract value.
The tenderer who does not comply with these instructions shall be summarily rejected. Tenderer can also send their tender by registered post. The name of work and words "Technical Bid only" and "Price Bid only" as the case may be should clearly be written on t
