IMPORTANT POINT
Judicial review in tender matters is limited; courts should respect expert evaluations unless proven arbitrary or unreasonable.

JUDGMENT :

Rongon Mukhopadhyay, J.

Heard Mr. Sumeet Gadodia, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. Piyush Chitresh, learned A.C. to A.G. appearing for the respondent nos. 1 and 2 as well as Mr. M.S. Mittal, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the respondent no. 3.

2. In this writ application, the petitioner has prayed for the following reliefs :

(i) For issuance of an appropriate writ/order/ direction, including Writ of Certiorari, for quashing/setting aside the decision of the Tender Committee as contained in Notice dated 30.01.2024 (Annexure-11) in respect of the tender dated 20.06.2023 for supply of PICU Equipments published by Respondent No. 1, to the extent Technical Bid of the Petitioner for supply of Defibrillators has been rejected in a most arbitrary and whimsical manner solely with an intent to favour Respondent No. 3 despite the fact that Respondent No. 3’s Technical Bid for supply of Defibrillators was not as per technical specification as specified in the Tender issued by Respondent No. 1.

(ii) For issuance of further appropriate writ/order/direction for quashing/setting aside the decision of the Tender Committee as contained in Notice dated 30.01.2024 (Annexure-11) to the extent Respondent No. 3 has been declared as technically qualified for supply of Defibrillators pursuant to the Tender dated 20.06.2023 (Annexure-2) for Supply of PICU Equipments published by Respondent No. 1, especially because Respondent No. 3 had not submitted its Bid as per tender specification and the Zoll Defibrillator which Respondent No. 3 is intending to supply belonging to Defibrillator (Moder R-series Defibrillators) of Zoll Medical Corporation, U.S.A. is not having Re-usable CPR Feedback Censor, which is one of the essential conditions of the tender specification.

(iii) For issuance of further appropriate writ/order/direction, including Writ of Mandamus, directing the Respondent-authorities to declare the Technical Bid of the Petitioner as Compliant of the tender conditions, and further directing Respondent No. 1 to consequentially award the work in question to Petitioner for supply of Defibrillators, if Petitioner’s Bid is found to be Lowest being L-1 Bidder.

(iv) For issuance of an appropriate writ/order/direction to call for and quash Work Order, if any, issued in favour of Respondent No. 3 for supply of Defibrillators pursuant to the Tender dated 20.06.2023 (Annexure-2) for supply of PICU Equipments issued by Respondent No. 1.

(v) For issuance of any other appropriate writ(s)/order(s)/direction(s) as Your Lordships may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case.

3. Briefly stated the facts reveal that the petitioner is a company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 while the respondent no. 1-Jharkhand Medical & Health Infrastructure Development & Procurement Corporation Ltd. is a Government of Jharkhand entity and is 100% financed by the State of Jharkhand. It has been stated that the respondent no. 1 had published a tender as contained in Bid Ref. No. JMC/NIT-23/PICU EQP/24 dated 20.06.2023 for supply of PICU Equipments. In the said tender several PICU Equipments were required to be supplied and Bidders were to submit their Bids in respect of each of the items to be supplied under the Tender Document. The present writ application pertains to supply of Defibrillators and in the Tender Document itself detailed specification was given with respect to supply of Defibrillators and it was provided therein apart from other technical specifications that the Defibrillators to be supplied should be having accessories, spare parts, consumables being ‘3 nos. of Reusable CPR feedback Sensor’. The petitioner being eligible to supply Defibrillators had submitted its Bid and the proposed Defibrillators which were to be supplied as per the Bid document was of model ‘Mediana D700’. Apart from the petitioner the other participants in the supply of Defibrillators included (a) M/s. Sai Associate and (b) M/s. Kailash Surgical P