W.P.(C) 14608/2021

Page 1 of 34

$~5

*

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

Judgment reserved on: 28.01.2022

%

Judgment delivered on: 20.04.2022

+

W.P.(C) 14608/2021 & CM APPLs. 46021-46023/2021

ROSENBAUER INTERNATIONAL AG

..... Petitioner

Through:

Mr. Raman Kapur, Sr. Adv. With Mr.

Praveen Mahajan & Ms. Ruchi

Mahajan, Advs.

versus

AIRPORT AUTHORITY OF INDIA & ANR.

..... Respondents

Through:

Mr. Digvijay Rai, Mr. Archit Mishra

& Mr. Archit Jindal, Advs. for

R-1/AAI.

Ms. Anjana Gosain, Ms. Shalini Nair

& Ms. Ritika Khanagwal, Advs. for

R-2/MoCA.

CORAM:

HON'BLE THE ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JASMEET SINGH

J U D G M E N T

JASMEET SINGH, J.

1.

The present petition has been filed by the petitioner seeking following

substantial prayers:

AAI/CHQ/Tech/5-A/ACFT/2019 Dated 29.11.2021 ["Annexure

P-1"] issued by the Respondent No 1 for cancelling the tender

2022:DHC:1404-DB

W.P.(C) 14608/2021

Page 2 of 34

2.

The case of the petitioner in a nutshell is that the petitioner is an

Austria based company, and it offers a large selection of firefighting

vehicles, that are designed especially for airport operations to ensure the

safety of equipment and human life in case of instance of fire in aircraft, and

or at airports.

3.

The petitioner claims that the Airport Crash Fire Tenders (hereinafter

referred to as “ACFT”) designed by the petitioner meet the highest safety

standards all over the globe, and the petitioner is the largest production

company in the world of ACFTs. The petitioner also has its business

interests in India, wherein it supplies, manages and operates various ACFTs

by participating in tender floated by the Government authorities, such as

Indian Air Force, Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard, Aviation Research

Centre (Cabinet Secretariat), and all the major private airports in India.

4.

The petitioner has participated in all the global tenders floated by

respondent No. 1 – Airport Authority of India, and has till date supplied 160

ACFTs in various tenders.

5.

The respondent No. 1 is Airport Authority of India (hereinafter

referred to as “AAI”), and is a unit/division of respondent No. 2 i.e.

Ministry of Civil Aviation. The respondent No. 1 is under control and

governance of respondent No. 2, and the Joint Secretary of respondent No. 2

is deputed as controlling authority of respondent No. 1.

2022:DHC:1404-DB

W.P.(C) 14608/2021

Page 3 of 34

6.

The respondent No. 1 invited the First Global Tender (hereinafter

referred to as “FGT”) on 10.01.2020 for supply of 33 Nos. of ACFTs of

10,000 ltrs water tank capacity. Since nothing much rests on the first tender,

we are not going into this tender’s conditions. The said tender was cancelled

vide the letter bearing No. AAI/CHQ/Tech/5-A/AR-II(Tech)/2019/Vol 2

dated 19.07.2020, without assigning reasons. After cancellation of the First

Global Tender, the respondent No. 1 floated another tender i.e. Second

Global Tender (hereinafter referred to as “SGT”)on 19.01.2021 for supply

of 33 Nos. of ACFTs of 10,000 ltrs water tank capacity. In the SGT, the

experience clause was relaxed from the first tender, and the bidders, who had

experience of supply of 4,500 ltrs ACFTs in the last 17 years (earlier

prescription was 10,000-ltrs capacity in last 7 years), were eligible to

participate.

7.

On 22.02.2021, a corrigendum was issued, and as per Para 4.3.1.4, the

Technical Directorate clarified that “Engine(s) shall have Bharat Stage

level meets BS VI/Euro VI or equivalent.” Hence, as per the corrigendum

only Bharat Stage VI/Euro VI Engine was acceptable.

8.

The timelines in the SGT were as under:

2022:DHC:1404-DB

W.P.(C) 14608/2021

Page 4 of 34

9.

Under the SGT, four vendors submitted their technical offer.

However, only the petitioner offered Euro VI Compliant Engine with Euro

VI Emission Norms Certificate for engine. The other three bidde