* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Date of decision: 21^st MARCH, 2023 IN THE MATTER OF:

+ W.P.(C) 17599/2022 & CM APPL. 56263/2022 TEQ GREEN POWER XIII PRIVATE LIMITED ..... Petitioner Through: Mr. Jayant Mehta, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Vishrav Mukherjee, Mr. PSS Bhargava, Ms. Priyanka Vyas, Mr. Raghav Malhotra and Ms. Aayushi Khurana, Advocates.

versus REMC LIMITED ..... Respondent Through: Ms. Pinky Anand, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Balendu Shekhar, Ms. Saudamini Sharma, Mr. Sriansh Prakash, Mr. Rajkumar Maurya and Mr. Krishna Chaitanya, Advocates.

CORAM:

HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUBRAMONIUM PRASAD

JUDGMENT

SUBRAMONIUM PRASAD, J.

1. The Petitioner has filed the instant Writ Petition filed impugning the decision dated 16.12.2022 bearing Reference No. REMCL/CO/PP/P-85 (hereinafter referred to as “Impugned Decision”) rendered by the Respondent, REMC Limited, in terms of which, the Respondent has declared the Petitioner to be technically ineligible to participate in the procurement process of 1000 MW of Round-the-Clock Power from Grid- Connected Renewable Energy Power Projects, issued vide the Request for Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed W.P.(C) 17599/2022 Page 1 of 19 Selection bearing reference number REMCL/CO/PP/P- 85/RTC/1000MW/2022 dated 14 July 2022 (hereinafter referred to as “Request for Selection”). Shorn of details, the controversy that has arisen before this Court is that the Petitioner was found ineligible to participate in the tender process since the “net worth” quoted by it was inclusive of the value of its preference shares, which, in the view of the Respondent ought to be excluded from such net worth and pursuant to such exclusion, the “net worth” criteria set out under the Request for Selection is not being satisfied. The short issue that is to be decided in this case is whether the value of preference shares can be included while computing “net worth” and accordingly, whether the Respondent erred in declaring the Petitioner ineligible to participate in the tender process in terms of the Request for Selection.

2. The Petitioner, TEQ Green Power XIII Pvt. Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of O2 Power SG PTE. LTD (hereinafter referred to as “O2 Power”), is primarily engaged in generation and supply of power for the purposes of procurement by various nodal agencies and distribution companies. The Respondent, Railway Energy Management Company Limited is a Joint Venture company between Ministry of Railways and Rites Limited, holding 49% and 51% stake in the Respondent respectively. The Respondent is the nodal agency of the Indian Railways for implementation of renewable energy projects.

3. The factual matrix of the dispute leading up to the filing of the instant Petition is set out hereinbelow: -

i. On 14.07.2022, REMC Limited issued a Notice Inviting Tender (hereinafter referred to as “NIT”), being NIT No:

Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed W.P.(C) 17599/2022 Page 2 of 19 REMCL/CO/PP/P-85/RTC/1000 MW/2022 inviting bids for and on behalf of the Indian Railways, for selection of project developers for supply of 1000 MW Round-the Clock (RTC) Power from Grid-Connected Renewable Energy (RE) Power Projects. The Request for Selection, which was issued along with the NIT, laid down inter alia the procedure for bid evaluation and the requisite eligibility criteria to be fulfilled by prospective applicants.

ii. On 09.11.2022, the Petitioner submitted the relevant documents along with the technical bid and financial bid.

iii. On 11.11.2022, the Respondent opened the technical bids submitted by the applicants.

iv. The Petitioner thereafter discovered that other bidders had received advance intimation to participate in the reverse auction which was scheduled to be held on 19.12.2022. Therefore, on 14.12.2022 the Petitioner wrote to the Respondent inter alia stating that it had not received any intimation regarding the reverse auction process despite satisfying the requisite criteria and accordingly requested t