OPAQUE INFRASTRUCTURE PVT. LIMITED Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition has been filed seeking, inter alia, the following prayers:-

(2.) Earlier, the NIT dated 08.12.2014 had been floated in respect of construction of 125 Toilet Blocks for Boys/ Girls in various Government Schools in Singrauli District (M.P.) under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and maintenance for two years (Package No. 2). The petitioner had participated in the said tender and was found to be L-2. The L-1 bidder could not be awarded the package inasmuch as there was a condition that in case a bidder has already been awarded one package, he would not be awarded another package. Therefore, L-2 (the petitioner herein) was asked to match the bid of the L-1 bidder. Incidentally, the petitioner's bid was for Rs. 3,94,18,678.13/-, whereas that of the L-1 bidder was far lower, that is, Rs. 2,52,21,803.13/-. The petitioner was called by the respondent for a pre- award discussion by a letter dated 27.01.2015. The petitioner was required to make a suitable offer of a rebate on the overall quoted amount. It appears that the petitioner submitted an offer of Rs. 2,52,21,803.00/-, which was more or less the same as the initial bid submitted by the L-1 bidder. As mentioned above, the L-1 bidder, M/s. A.K. Gupta and Company, was being considered for another package and that is why the pre-award discussion was taking place with the petitioner. Since the respondents submitted that a further rebate ought to be granted, they requested the petitioner to reduce their offer in view of the fact that the estimated cost was approximately Rs. 1.80 crores and they had recently awarded similar works ranging from Rs. 1.66 crores to Rs. 2.04 crores, which was far less than the offer of approximately Rs. 2.52 crores made by the petitioner. As a final reduction, the petitioner reduced the offer to Rs. 2.45 crores and stated that no further reduction would be possible.

(3.) Faced with this circumstance, a meeting of the Tender Committee took place on 03.02.2015 on the said subject. The minutes of the meeting are extracted herein below:-