- (1.) In these two writ petitions, the two petitioners have questioned the propriety and legality of certain terms and conditions of a tender notice dated February 23, 2012 issued by the Durgapur Projects Limited (hereafter D. P. L. ) and have prayed for diverse relief. Although reliefs claimed by the two petitioners are at variance but since terms and conditions of a common invitation to tender are under challenge, I propose to dispose of these writ petitions by this common judgment and order.
(2.) D. P. L. intended to appoint an agent for handling coal for a period of three years. Sealed bids were, accordingly, invited from prospective bidders for liaisioning, supervision & materialisation of quantity and quality control of raw coal rakes (hereafter the subject job). The scope of work included quantity materialisation, quality control, loading supervision, shortage minimisation, assistance for coal sampling at loading point, monitoring and liaisoning with the railways for the movements of coal rakes of indigenous coal from the different collieries of Eastern Coalfields Limited, Mahanadi Coalfields Limited and Bharat Coking Coal Limited to the power station of D. P. L. The prospective bidders were required to submit the required documents in four sealed covers, with Covers-I & II containing documents relating to 'earnest money deposit' and 'qualifying requirements' respectively, Cover-III containing documents relating to 'techno-commercial bid' and Cover-IV containing 'price bid' documents.
(3.) Qualifying requirements were indicated against clause 2 under volume-III of the tender documents titled Techno Commercial Specifications. Clause 2 reads as under: 2. Qualifying Requirements: i) The bidder should have experience in quantity materialization and quality control, supervision of loading, dispatches, monitoring of movement by railways from loading point till destination of raw coal. The bidder should submit the relevant documents and certificates including Work Order copies supported by successful execution certificate from the controlling Officers of the job in support of the experience. The bidder having no work experience of coal handling through Railways will not be considered. Bids by joint venture/consortium of companies will not be considered. ii) a) The bidder should have executed coal handling job for a minimum quantity of 2.5 (Two and half) Million Metric Tonnes of indigenous raw or washed coal at least for one year within the last five financial years within India by rail. Alternatively the bidder should have executed coal handling job for a minimum quantity of 1.5 (One and half) Million Metric Tonnes of indigenous raw or washed coal at least for three years within the last five financial years within India by rail. The bidder's execution of coal handling job as aforesaid should be from coalfields of CIL subsidiaries on behalf of any Public Sector utility (i. e. Utilities which are State/Central Government Undertakings/Enterprises or which are fully owned by Central or State Government) as their handling agent. b) The bidder should have sufficient work strength/employee strength in the respective fields of work and the party should submit the exhaustive employee list along with their PF account details/documents for last three financial years. c) The bidder should have/should be willing to set up his own full-fledged office equipped with computers (including e-mail facilities), fax and telephone etc, at Kolkata/Durgapur and also communication facilities at Coal fields for day to day communication. d) The bidder should be financially sound and capable of executing high value contracts. As a proof of the financial capability, the bidder should produce a solvency certificate or a letter of commitment for an amount of Rs. 3 (Three) crores or more from a Nationalized Bank/Scheduled Bank/Foreign Bank in India (as per Annexure-VII) valid for minimum 1 (One) year. e) The bidder should submit the photocopies of Income Tax Returns for last three financial years. f) Experience as a sub contractor will not be considered. g) The Party should be capable to keep the validity of offer for at least 180 days from the date of opening of first part of the Tender. h) The party will have to give an undertaking that they have not initiated any legal proceedings against any Govt. /Public Sector Undertaking/Public Sector Enterprise relating to handling of coal in West Bengal for a period of Three years (as per Annexure-VI).;