A participant in a tender process must disclose any prior blacklisting, which renders them ineligible if concealed.

1. By way of this writ petition, the petitioner has primarily prayed for the following reliefs: -
"i) That a writ in the nature of certiorari may kindly be issued for quashing the proceedings of technical evaluation of e - tender opening for security services for Zonal Hospital Mandi held on 24.04.23 Annexure P - 7, to the extent whereby the respondent No. 5 has been adjudged as qualified and has further been admitted for financial bid.
ii) That a writ in the nature of mandamus may kindly be issued for directing the Respondent Nos. 3 and 4 to carry out the tender process strictly in accordance with notice inviting tender dated 1.04.2023."

2. The case of the petitioner is that it is a partnership firm engaged in manpower supply in security services, to Government and Non - Government Institutions, in the State of Himachal Pradesh. Respondent No. 3 invited tenders in terms of Notice Inviting Tender (hereinafter to be referred as 'NIT' for short), dt. 01.04.2023 (Annexure P - 3), from registered firms, proprietorship firms / partnership firms / company / corporation / co - operative societies or any other legal entity for providing security services for the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Zonal Hospital Mandi, District Mandi, H.P. The last date for submission and uploading of tender documents was 21.04.2023 up to 5:00 p.m. and the tender was to be opened on 24.04.2023 at 11:00 a.m. In terms of the eligibility criteria for bidding firms / agencies, Clause 7 thereof provided as under: -
"7. The Proprietor / Firm / partner or the Company (Agency) / Society / any other and the firm should not be blacklisted / debarred / convicted. An undertaking to this effect on firm's letterhead should be attached."

3. Condition No. 28 thereof, inter alia provided that any violation of instructions / agreement or suppression of facts will attract cancellation of agreement without any reference.

4. As per the conditions of the NIT, relating to "documents to be uploaded / submitted with the tender (mandatory)" an undertaking on the organization letterhead separately was required to be uploaded, inter alia to the effect that, there is no case pending with the police or any investigating agency against the proprietor / Firm / Agency / Partner and the firm / agency has not been blacklisted by the Government or Non Government organization.

5. The petitioner being eligible to participate in the bidding process uploaded its tender in terms of the NIT. Other bidders also uploaded their bids including the private respondent, i.e. respondent No. 5.

6. As the e - tenders submitted by the participating parties were online, the petitioner perused the same and found that respondent No. 5 had submitted its tender supported by an undertaking dt. 20.04.2023, declaring therein that the said respondent had not been blacklisted by the Government and Non - Government organizations. This undertaking, as was uploaded by respondent No. 5 (appended as Annexure P - 4 with the petition), was per se incorrect as respondent No. 5 was once blacklisted, by debarring it from participating in the tender process of Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh, vide letter dt. 13.08.2018, for a period of six months. This action of Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh, was upheld by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana as per Annexure P - 5, i.e. order dt. 22.10.2018, passed in CWP No. 27090 of 2018 (O and M), titled as M/s Rakshak Securities Private Limited vs. Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh and another.

7. The petit