P.B.SURESH KUMAR, J. - (1.) The reliefs sought in these writ petitions are virtually one and the same and they are, therefore, disposed of by this common judgment. The parties and documents are referred to in this judgment, unless otherwise mentioned, as they appear in W.P.(C). 26853 of 2019.
(2.) Pursuant to the decision of the Government of Kerala to apply part of the proceeds of the financial aid received from the World Bank through the Government of India for execution of the work, namely 'KSTP-II-Upgrading Punalur to Ponkunnam Road (SH 8) Package 8A: Km 0+000 (Punalur) to KM 29+840 (Konni)' (the Work), the Kerala State Transport Project (KSTP), the Consultant Engineer of the Government of Kerala for the World Bank aided projects, invited bids for construction and completion of the Work. Ext. P1 is the procurement notice issued by KSTP in this connection. It is specified in Ext. P1 notice that the bidding will be conducted in accordance with the procedures prescribed in the Guidelines issued by the World Bank for procurement under IBRD loans and IDA credits (current edition) and it will be open to all eligible bidders as defined in the said Guidelines to participate in the bidding process. In terms of the Invitation to Bid (ITB) published in this regard by KSTP, the prospective bidders could be individuals or joint ventures and they were to submit technical as also financial bids.
(3.) The petitioner is stated to be a contractor who has undertaken numerous civil works. They formed a joint venture with another contractor namely M/s. RDS Project Ltd., for participating in the bid process and undertaking the execution of the Work, and accordingly submitted bid pursuant to Ext. P1 notice. There were 5 bids in response to Ext. P1 notice. The Committee constituted by KSTP for evaluation of the technical bids found the Joint Venture of the petitioner as also respondents 7 and 8 technically qualified for participation in the bid process. Thereupon, with due notice to the Joint Venture of the petitioner as also to respondents 7 and 8, the financial bids were opened on 19.8.2019. The financial bid submitted by the Joint Venture of the petitioner was the lowest. Their bid was Rs. 4,46,00,000/- below the bid submitted by the seventh respondent, the next lowest bidder. It is stated by the petitioner that while so, it has come out in newspapers that the Joint Venture of the petitioner has been excluded from the bid process since their Joint Venture partner namely M/s. RDS Project Ltd. is facing an enquiry in connection with another work namely 'Construction of Palarivattom flyover', executed by them for another public body namely M/s. Roads and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala. The case set out by the petitioner in the writ petition is that in so far as the Joint Venture partner of the petitioner has not been blacklisted by the State Government or by KSTP, the Joint Venture of the petitioner cannot be disqualified from the bid process. It is also their case that the Joint Venture of the petitioner being the technically qualified lowest bidder in the tender process, they are entitled to be awarded the Work. The petitioner, therefore seeks appropriate directions to the respondents concerned to award the Work to the Joint Venture of the petitioner.;