R.F.NARIMAN, J. - (1.) Leave granted.
(2.) These appeals arise out of a Tender Call Notice [TCN] dated 30.12.2019 issued by Respondent No.4, viz., the Office of the Superintendent, SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack. By this TCN, sealed tenders in a two-bid system (technical and financial) are invited from eligible registered diet preparation and catering firmssuppliers etc. having a valid labour licence and a food licence with a minimum of three years of relevant experience in the field of preparation and distribution of therapeutic and non-therapeutic diet to government or private health institutions having a minimum of 200 beds for the year 2019-2020. In the Terms of Reference attached to the TCN, clauses VI.3.3 and VI.3.9 are important and are set out hereunder VI.3 Eligibility criteria xxx xxx xxx 3. The bidder should have a minimum of 3 years' experience in diet preparation and its supplyservices in Govt. or Private Health Institutions only having minimum 200 no. of beds. xxx xxx xxx 9. The bidder should have valid labour licence (registration no. and date) of Labour Department. Further, under clause VI. 13, the right to reject any bid is set out as follows VI.13 Right to Accept or Reject the Bid The Hospital Administration reserves the right to accept or reject any bid and the bidding process and reject all such bids at any time prior to award of contract, without showing any reason thereby. Equally, under clause VI.16, the administration of the SCB Medical College and Hospital reserves under its sole discretion to disqualify any bid document if any of the documents enumerated in the said clause have not been submitted by the bidder. Clause VI.16(f) reads as follows VI.16 Disqualification The Administration of the SCB Medical College Hospital, seeking this bid, reserves under its sole discretion to disqualify any bid document if the following documents have not submitted by the bidder xxx xxx xxx f) Labour License from competent authority Under clause VI.20, sub-clause (6) states VI.20 General Information to Bidder xxx xxx xxx 6. The agency would recruit required number of staff for cooking and serving so that diet can be supplied to the indoor patients in time. List of personnel with their Aadhar card copy should be submitted to the office positively.
(3.) Pursuant to the aforesaid, four bids were received by the Tender Committee - from the Appellant, Respondent no.1, Respondent no.5 and Respondent no.6. Vide the Technical Committee meeting dated 17.02.2020, Respondent no.1 and Respondent no.6 were held to be disqualified inter alia for the reason that they had not submitted a valid labour licence, i.e., a contract labour licence from the competent authority, as per the TCN requirement. The Appellant and Respondent no.5 were shortlisted for opening of financial bids.;