PREMIER ENERGIES LTD. Vs. ASSAM POWER DISTRIBUTION COMPANY LIMITED

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The writ petitioner in this batch of 5 [five] writ petitions, W.P.[C] no. 6381/2021, W.P.[C] no. 6414/2021, W.P.[C] no. 6415/2021, W.P.[C] no. 6417/2021 and W.P.[C] no. 6418/2021, instituted under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is the same and the respondents are also same.

(2.) The genesis of the lis is the publication of a Notice Inviting Tender [NIT] vide NIT no. APDCL/CGM[NRE]/NRE-36/2021-22/182 dtd. 8/9/2021 by the Assam Power Distribution Company Limited [APDCL] whereby a competitive e-bidding process was initiated for a project - 'Off Grid Rural Electrification Works in District of Assam through Standalone Solar PV System on Turnkey Mode' under DDUGJY New Scheme ['the Project', for short], which consisted of 17 [seventeen] nos. of packages. For the benefit of the interested bidders, an e-Tender Document was also published. It was a Single Stage Bid [Techno Commercial Bid] Envelope Bidding Procedure to be followed by e-bidding for Price Bids, as detailed in the Bidding Documents.

(3.) Finding itself eligible and qualified as per the e-Tender Document, the petitioner, a public limited company, participated in the bidding process by submitting bids for 5 [five] nos. of packages, that is, Package no. 5, Package no. 8, Package no. 9, Package no. 10 and Package no. 11. Along with its bids, the petitioner deposited the requisite Tender Processing Fees as well as the Bid Security [EMD] amounts of Rs.25,00,000.00 each for each of the 5 [five] packages. The petitioner had deposited the Bid Security [EMD] amounts in the form of 5 [five] bank guarantees of Rs.25,00,000.00, that is, one bank guarantee each for each Package.