PANDA INFRA PROJECTS INDIA PVT. LTD. Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Petitioner, which is a company registered under the companies Act, 1956 and is a Super Class contractor, has filed this writ application assailing the legality and the propriety of the decision making process adopted by the Opp. Parties in arbitrarily canceling the tenders submitted by it pursuant to the tender call notice dated 9.9.2010 for construction of road over bridge near Lingaraj Road P S. label Crossing No.190 Km. -441 /1 -4 between Bhubaneswar Retanga Station Square and ROB at Lc No. 188 -SPL -3E AT RD 433/23 -25 Km of Howrah -Chennai Railway line at RD 1/200 Km from NH -203 (Bomikhal Square) connected to RD 1/300 Km to Janapath via Maharshi College, Saheed Nagar. The Petitioner has also assailed the fresh tender call notice dated 4.12.2010 published in the newspaper vide Annexure -7 for the aforesaid works.

(2.) THE case of the Petitioner in -brief is that in response to the tender call notice dated 9.9.2010 issued by Opp. Party No.3 the Chief Engineer, DPI and Roads, Orissa, inviting bids from the bidders in on line mode for three item of works, published in the local newspaper vide Annexure -2, the Petitioner submitted its technical bids as well as financial bids for two items of work as indicated in the foregoing paragraphs within the stipulated time. On the date fixed for opening the bids, the Opp. Parties opened the bids submitted by the Petitioner in its presence and found that the Petitioner was the single bidder to have participated in the tender process for execution of the above works. According to the Petitioner, since the bids submitted by it were complete in all respects and accordingly the Petitioner was waiting for a positive response from the Opp. Parties. But to the utter surprise, the Petitioner found that the Opp. Parties have posted in the Government Website a tender call notice dated 27.10.2010 inviting tenders for the self same works to which the Petitioner had bided for only by changing certain criterion and without publishing and notice canceling the earlier tender. Thereafter the Petitioner enquired about the reason for re -tendering the aforesaid works without disclosing the fate of its bids. On 3.12.2010, the Petitioner received an e -mail from the Opp. Parties vide Annexure -6 informing that the tenders had been cancelled due to administrative reasons,

(3.) THE question that arises for consideration is whether the Petitioner's technical bids were in order and whether the same were arbitrarily rejected by the Opp. Parties even without informing it regarding the result of its technical bids, with a motive to accommodate certain other favoured persons.