- (1.) West Bengal Agro Industries Corporation Ltd. (hereafter the Corporation) issued Tender Notice No. 23 of 2010-11 on September 9, 2010 for supply of various articles, viz. Set-I to Set-VI, Quadruped Sets, Tripod Sets, Column Pipes, Supporting Clamps, Bends, Flanged E.R.W. Pipes & Flanges (hereafter the said articles). The tenderers were called upon to submit various documents with the tender papers, failing which the tenders would stand rejected. Under clause 5(i) of the instructions forming part of Annexure A to the notice inviting tender, it was provided as follows: "In case of Manufacturer as Tenderer, past Performance of satisfactory supplying of any tender item/s should be at least Rs. 50.00(fifty) Lakhs in a single supply order during the last 5 years to W.B. Agro Industries Corpn. Ltd./Water Resources Investigation and Development Department or in other Govt. Departments/Govt. Undertakings and proof of such past performance to be submitted with the Tender. In case of a Tenderer other than Manufacturer, above mentioned satisfactory completion of supplying of any tender item/s is required both for the Tenderer and his Manufacturer to W.B. Agro Industries Corpn. Ltd/Water Resources Investigation and Development Department or in other Govt. Departments/Govt. undertaking & proof of such past performance to be submitted with the Tender. In case of failure in producing the above mentioned proof of such past performance, the Tender will not be considered."
(2.) The petitioner carries on business under the trade name "B.N. Paul & Co." It is claimed by him that he manufactures the said articles, supply whereof was sought for by the Corporation by issuing the said tender notice. Considering himself to be eligible to participate in the tender process since he fulfilled the criteria mentioned in the first part of the aforesaid extract of clause 5(i), he had responded to the said notice. The tender evaluation report prepared by the officials of the Corporation records that the tenderer B.N. Paul & Co. did not submit required credentials as per tender terms and, therefore, was treated as informal tenderer.
(3.) The decision of the Corporation to exclude the petitioner from the zone of consideration of eligible tenderers is the subject matter of challenge in this writ petition.;