B.R. Sarangi, J. - (1.) Odisha State Medical Corporation Limited (OSMCL)-opposite party no.2 is a Government of Odisha Enterprise. It acts as an independent agency for the department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Odisha for timely procurement of quality medicines, surgical equipments, instruments, etc. through competitive bidding process. It is managed by a Board of Directors duly constituted by Government of Odisha. The opposite party no.2-OSMCL on 05.08.2017, vide Bid Reference No. OSMCL/2017-18/DRUGS-DHS/02, issued notice inviting online bids through e-portal from the eligible bidders for supply of drugs and medical consumables for the year 2017-18 on rate contract basis for a period of one year from the date of approval of tender. The date and time for pre-bid meeting was fixed to 17.05.2017 at 11.00 AM. The online bid submission was to start from 23.08.2017 at 3.00 PM and end on 08.09.2017 at 5.00 PM. The submission of tender documents and EMD amount (as per Section-IV of tender documents) was to start from 08.09.2017 at 5.00 PM and end on 15.09.2017 at 11.00 AM. The date and time of opening of online technical bid was fixed to 15.09.2017 at 11.00 AM and, the date and time of opening of price bid was to be informed to the qualified bidders later on. But subsequently, opposite party no.2-OSMCL issued a corrigendum, vide Bid Reference No. OSMCL/2017- 18/DRUGS-DHS/02 at Annexure-3, revising the closing date for online submission of bid to 15.09.2017 at 5.00 PM, closing date and time for submission of tender documents and EMD amount (Hard Copy) as per Section-IV of tender documents to 25.09.2017 at 11.00 AM and opening date for online technical bid to 25.09.2017 at 11.00 AM.
(2.) Pursuant to the tender notice referred to above, petitioner no.1, along with 118 others, including M/s VINS Bioproducts Ltd.-opposite party no.3 and M/s Bharat Serums and Vaccines Ltd.-opposite party no.4, submitted its tender documents through online process on 13.09.2017. On receipt, the bid of the petitioner had been enlisted at serial no.85, bidder no. 699215 in the bid list prepared by opposite party no.2. Petitioner no.1 had submitted its bid for supply of three items, namely, (1) Code No. D23002 (Injection Snake Venom Antiserum); (2) Code No. D23008 (Injection Snake Venom Antiserum); and (3) Code No. 23010 (Equine Rabies Immunoglobulin), as per tender document. At the time of submission of its bid, petitioner no.1 has wrongly put the date "14.09.2017" on bid documents, such as details of the item quoted, details of the EMD submitted, Format-T5, etc., though it has accepted online bid on "13-Sept. 2017 03.18 pm". Pursuant to the proceeding of tender evaluation committee meeting held on 11.12.2017, a communication was made by opposite party no.2 on 20.12.2017 to petitioner no.2 through his e-mail that the technical bid of petitioner no.1 has been rejected on the ground that Format-T5 (declaration form) of petitioner no.1, i.e., M/s Premium Serums & Vaccines Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai was not accepted and reason for rejection has been cited under Annexure-IB vide serial no.8 which is that "the declaration form (T5) is not in order i.e. the declaration is notarized earlier than the deponents affidavit in format T5." In response to such communication, petitioner no.2, on the very same date, i.e., 20.12.2017 filed a clarification regarding document Format-T5, but the same was not taken into consideration, hence this writ application.
(3.) Mr. M.R. Mohapatra, learned Senior Counsel appearing along with Mr. S. Mohanty, learned counsel for the petitioners strenuously urged that even though petitioner no.2 has promptly responded by filing a representation on 20.12.2017 explaining that the Format-T5 has been notarized on "11.09.2017", but wrongly the date has been put as "14.09.2017". It is further contended that while completing the documentation, before uploading, all the documents have been given the date as it was on "14.09.2017". So in the Format-T5, which was notarized on "11.09.2017", the date of bidder has been mentioned as "14.09.2017", though the uploading was done on "13.09.2017". As such, since the opposite parties have acknowledged that uploading was done on "13.09.2017", certainly Format-T5 has been notarized on "11.09.2017" and as such there is a mistake of putting the date as "14.09.2017". This fact has also been clarified by way of filing representation on "21.12.2017" that it is an inadvertent mistake and for that reason the technical bid of petitioner no.1 should not have been cancelled. To substantiate his submission, he has relied upon Nestor Pharmaceuticals Ltd. v. State of Odisha, 2017 Supp2 OrissaLR 818.;