R.NARAYANA PISHARADI,J. - (1.)The Kerala State Housing Board (hereinafter referred to as the 'Board') invited online tenders for construction of an indoor stadium for the LBS College of Engineering at Kasaragod. Three persons submitted tenders. The technical bid submitted by Sri.Abdul Nazar was not admitted for the reason that he did not submit a valid certificate of registration as 'A' class contractor. Then he filed the writ petition W.P.(C)No.14966 of 2017 for issuing a writ of mandamus directing the officials of the Board to process the financial bid submitted by him. Later, the tender submitted by T.P. Constructions, the appellant herein, was accepted.
(2.)A learned single Judge of this Court found that the writ petitioner had a valid certificate of registration/licence on the date of submission of the tender by him. The learned single Judge declared that the course adopted by the Board in rejecting the bid submitted by the writ petitioner and accepting the bid submitted by the appellant is arbitrary and illegal and directed the Board to resume the scrutiny of the tenders from the stage of the technical bids. Aggrieved by the judgment of the learned single Judge, this writ appeal is filed by T.P. Constructions.
(3.)We have heard Sri.Jinish Paul, learned counsel for the appellant, Sri.Manoj Ramaswamy, learned Standing Counsel for the Board and Sri.Shiraz Abdulla, learned counsel for the third respondent/writ petitioner.