- (1.) Heard Mr. Shashi Nandan, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Sri S.K. Tyagi, learned counsel for the petitioner, Sri Manoj Kumar Sharma and Mr. Kaushlesh Pratap Singh for the respondents.
(2.) These two writ petitions question the action of the North Central Railway whereby the tenders submitted by the petitioner have come to be rejected on the ground of a failure on the part of the petitioner to deposit the tender cost as well as earnest money. The claim of the petitioner was that since it was a micro and small enterprise (MSE) covered by the provisions of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006, it was entitled to the benefits conferred by the Public Procurement Policy, 2012 which exempted MSE's from paying tender cost or depositing the earnest money. The stand taken by the respondents is that the tenders themselves were invited for a works contract which as per the operating manual of the North Central Railway did not qualify as a contract for supply of goods and services and therefore the petitioner was not entitled to the benefits of the Public Procurement Policy, 2012.
(3.) The petitioner [and which fact is not disputed by the respondents] is an MSE registered with the National Small Industries Corporation Ltd.2 for participation in the Central Government Store Purchase Programme as also for undertaking civil construction. The eligibility limits conferred upon the petitioner by NSIC for the aforementioned two works is set at Rs. 5.79 Crores and Rs. 15 Crores respectively. It is stated to have applied for award of contract by the North Central Railway under Tender Nos. 45 and 48. Its tenders for the aforementioned two contracts have been rejected on the grounds noted above.;