M/s Dalip Singh Adhikari & Others vs State Of Uttarakhand & Others

Sudhanshu Dhulia, J

Both these writ petitions relate to the same tender process whereby the work contract for the construction of a road i.e. "Dhaun to Salli MR Stage-II, Syala to Poth MR Stage-II and Amori to Chahaktkot MR Stage-II", was to be given. It was a two bid process. This construction work of road was to be done under the "Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana Scheme", and the Uttarakhand Rural Roads Development Agency (from hereinafter referred to as "URRDA") is the agency under whose supervision this work was to be done.

Petitioner in Writ Petition (M/S) No.2768 of 2018 i.e. M/s Dalip Singh Adhikari was declared as technically disqualified for the reason that he has been delisted by the department on 16.01.2018. This technical disqualification was made on 28.08.2018. The petitioner could not have been technically disqualified for the reason that it is an admitted fact before this Court that the order dated 16.01.2018 was initially challenged before this Court in a writ petition and ultimately the matter went before the Hon'ble Apex Court where the operation and effect of the order dated 16.01.2018 was stayed by the Hon'ble Apex Court on 10.08.2018.

In view of this admitted position that the order which was the source of disqualification of the petitioner was stayed by the Hon'ble Apex Court, there was actually no occasion for the authorities to have held the petitioner to be disqualified inasmuch as it is also a matter of record that this order of the Hon'ble Apex Court dated 10.08.2018 was brought to the notice of the respondent authorities on 24.08.2018.

The petitioner in Writ Petition (M/S) No.3827 of 2018 who was one of the technically qualified bidders came to this Court and filed the writ petition challenging the action of the respondent authorities, whereby technical and financial bids of the petitioner i.e. M/s Dalip Singh Adhikari have been opened, though by the order of this Court. The ground for challenge is that as per Clause 22.6 of the Standard Bidding Document time was to be given to the bidders to file the objections, but in this case the technical and financial bids of the petitioner i.e. M/s Dalip Singh Adhikari were opened on the same day without following this condition.

Clause 22.6 of the Standard Bidding Document reads as under:-

"Clause 22.6. The result of evaluation of Part-I of the Bids shall be made public on e-procurement systems following which there will be a period of five working days during which any bidder may submit complaint which shall be considered for resolution before opening Part-II of the bid."

By order of this Court dated 14.09.2018, the bids have not been finalized. This Court has been informed by the Employer i.e. URRDA that ultimately there were four successful bidders who have been technically qualified, including the petitioner i.e. M/s Dalip Singh Adhikari.

Petitioner i.e. M/s Dalip Singh Adhikari has made a bid of Rs.19,51,60,803.97/- (Rupees Nineteen Crore Fifty One Lakh Sixty Thousand Eight Hundred Three and Ninety Seven paisa only) and is L-1, and petitioner in Writ Petition (M/S) No. 3827 of 2018 is L-3 as he made a bid of Rs.19,99,95,548/- (Rupees Nineteen Crore Ninety Nine Lakh Ninety Five Thousand Five Hundred Forty Eight only).

The only technical objection raised before this Court is that before declaring the petitioner i.e. M/s Dalip Singh Adhikari as qualified, objections ought to have been called for in terms of Clause 22.6 of the Standard Bidding Document, which has not been done. This seems to be correct.

Writ petitions are therefore disposed of with the direction to the authority concerned to hear the objections of the bidders and thereafter pass an order on the said objections within a period of one week from the date of production of a certified copy of this order, and subject to the said order, take appropriate action in accordance with law.