A change of name of a registered entity does not affect its legal existence, but failure to register correctly can invalidate tender submissions. Courts limit interventions in tender processes unless clear arbitrariness is shown.

1. Heard Mr. Brian Da Silva, learned Senior Advocate assisted by Mr. Animesh Verma and Mr. Soumya Rai, learned counsel for the petitioner, Mr. Satish Chandra Verma, learned Advocate General assisted by Mr. Vikram Sharma, learned Deputy Government Advocate, appearing for the State / respondents No.1 to 4 and Mr. Yogesh Pandey, learned counsel, appearing for respondent No.5.

2. By way of this writ petition, the petitioner has prayed for following reliefs:
10.1 Issue a Writ in the nature of Certiorari quashing the rejection of the bid of the Petitioner communicated vide email dated 28.02.2023 (Annexure P / 10) as the same is bad in law.
10.2 Issue a Writ in the nature of Certiorari or any other Writ thereby quashing decision of the Respondent authorities holding that the Respondent No. 5 is the L - 1 bidder.
10.3 Issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other Writ thereby directing the Respondents to favorably consider the bid of the Petitioner and declare the Petitioner as the successful bidder, entitled to consequences that follow.
10.4 Grant any other relief that this Hon'ble Court deems fit and just in the facts and circumstances of the case.
10.5 Costs be awarded to the Petitioner."

3. Brief facts of the case, are that, the petitioner is a non - profit Social Welfare based Organization operating in the Public Private Partnership mode. The petitioner formerly known as GVK EMRI is a pioneer in Emergency Management Services in India with an experience of more than 16 years. The petitioner handles medical, police and fire emergencies through '108 Emergency Service' and the petitioner has also awarded multiple projects in the State of Chhattisgarh.

4. Respondent No.2, i.e. the Director, Directorate of Veterinary Services had issued a Request for Proposal (hereinafter referred to as 'RFP') bearing tender No.6892 / LH and DC / E - PROC / RFP MVU / 2022 / Nava Raipur, dated 14.12.2022 for hiring services of support organization for providing services of Mobile Veterinary Units (hereinafter referred to as 'MVU') at different locations in the State of Chhattisgarh along with a Call Center. The last date for submission of bid was 04.01.2023 and technical bids were to be opened on 04.01.2023 at 4.00 PM. Subsequently, respondent No.2 had issued a corrigendum dated 23.12.2022 modifying the certain conditions of the tender and further corrigendum was issued on 03.01.2023. The last date for submission of bid was extended up to 09.01.2023 and the date of opening of technical bid was revised up to 09.01.2023 at 4.00 PM.

5. The petitioner having the requisite qualification and experience for carrying out the contract work was keen in participating in the tender process. At that relevant point of time, the petitioner was formerly known as 'GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute' and subsequently, petitioner's organization was renamed as 'EMRI Green Health Services' after obtaining requisite permission from the Registrar of Societies and a modified certificate of Society's Registration naming the petitioner as 'EMRI Green Health Services' was issued with effect from 21.09.2022. The petitioner was earlier registered on the Chhattisgarh e - Procurement Portal under its old name i.e. 'GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute' and in order to participate in the tender in question under its new name, the petitioner vide e - mail dated 03.01.2023 requested the Chhattisgarh e - Procurement Portal team to assist in changing the registration of the petitioner's organization to 'EMRI Green Health Services'. It was further informed by respondent No.3 that petitioner was required to deactivate the firm / organization registration and release PAN from the e - Procurement Portal and apply for fresh registration along with required documents. As the deadline to submit the bid was 09.01.2023, on advice of the e - Procurement team, petitioner proceeded to submit its bid using GVK EMRI login registration, but provide all documents in new name i.e. 'EMRI Green Heal