ORDER

Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Government Advocate for the first and second respondents. Though the third respondent has been served, no one has chosen to enter appearance on their behalf.

2.The petitioner is a registered cooperative society. The petitioner has been serving in the field of solid waste management for the local bodies in Kanyakumari District. The petitioner's counsel on instructions states that the petitioner is having more than three years experience in providing manpower for solid waste management schemes.

3.Whileso, the second respondent issued tender notification dated

07.08.2020 inviting tender applications from eligible “manpower outsource agency” for supply of manpower for engaging 150 Animators to carry out IEC activities on outsourcing basis under Swachh Bharat Mission in 55 town panchayats in Nagercoil Zone. The petitioner applied in response to the said notification. The tenders were to be originally opened on 02.09.2020 but on the said date, the tenders were not opened. Later a corrigendum was issued on 31.08.2020 and the opening of the tender process was postponed to 10.09.2020. In the tender opening held on the said date, the third respondent was found to be the successful bidder. The third respondent was issued with license.

Challenging the same, this writ petition came to be filed.

4.The learned counsel for the petitioner reiterated the contentions set out in the affidavit filed in support of the writ petition and wanted this Court to set aside the award of tender in favour of the third respondent.

5.Per contra, the learned Government Advocate for the first and second respondents submitted that the tender inviting authority had acted scrupulously in terms of tender conditions and that therefore, no interference is warranted.

6.I carefully considered the rival contentions and went through the materials on record. The core argument of the learned counsel for the writ petitioner is that the tender notification contemplated the submission of the tender application only through online mode. A tender process of this nature will be in two stages namely., technical bid stage and financial bid stage. The tender notification contemplates the submission of the technical application only through online mode. In the case on hand, the third respondent did not submit the tender application through online mode. It was submitted only in offline mode. This is the foremost contention of the petitioner's counsel.

7.Per contra, the learned Government Advocate for the first and second respondents points out that the tender conditions were modified and they contemplate the submission of tender application both through online mode as well as offline mode.

8.Clauses 8 and 10 deal with submission of proposal and opening and evaluation of proposal. The said clauses read as under:-

“8.Submission of Proposals:

The proposals should be submitted on line in https://tntenders.gov.in in two envelops viz., Covering letter along with the Qualification details (Cover I) and Financial proposal (Cover II) should be submitted in the office of the Assistant Director of Town Panchayats, Nagercoil Zone, Nagerciol before 3.00 P.M. on 02.09.2020. .

Tender documents can be downloaded from 07.08.2020 to

02.09.2020 up to 3.00 P.M.

The “Qualification details” and “financial proposals” of the out sourcing agency must be submitted in a two separate covers.

The Cover-1 should contains the Covering letter, details of experience in the formats as indicated in Annexure II of this bid document and the proof of remittance of EMD and shall be sealed and superscripted as “Qualification details for Engaging out sourcing agency for supply of 150 Animators to 55 Town Panchayats in Nagercoil Zone to carry out IEC Activities under Swachh Bharath Mission”

The Cover-2 should contain only the financial proposal and sealed and superscripted as “Financial proposal for engaging out sourcing agency for supply of 150 Animators to 55 Town Panchaya