Allowed

Kulwinder Singh v. State of Hp and Others

Himachal Pradesh HC6 Dec 2019CWP/1909/2019

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

In this writ petition challenging a six-month debarment by HIMUDA from tendering processes for refusing to reduce quoted rates, the High Court of Himachal Pradesh held that compelling a tenderer to reduce rates is illegal and arbitrary. The court quashed the communication.

What did the court decide?

The impugned communication dated 19.7.2019 debarring the petitioner from participating in any tendering process with HIMUDA is quashed and set aside.

Kulwinder Singh Vs State of Hp and… — Public Procurement and Tenders | Himachal Pradesh HC (2019)

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA.

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CWP No.1909 of 2019 Date of decision: December 06, 2019 Kulwinder Singh .....Petitioner Versus State of H.P. and others .…Respondents

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Coram :

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The Hon’ble Mr. Justice L. Narayana Swamy, Chief Justice. The Hon’ble Ms. Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua, Judge. Whether approved for reporting?¹

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_______________________________________________________ For the petitioner : Mr. N.K. Thakur, Senior Advocate, with Mr. Karan Veer Singh, Advocate. For respondent No.1 : Mr. Ashok Sharma, Advocate General with Mr. Adarsh Kumar Sharma, Ms. Rita Goswami and Mr. Nand Lal Thakur, Addl. A.Gs.

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For respondents No.2 & 3 : Mr. Amit Singh Chandel, Advocate. Jyotsna Rewal Dua, Judge (Oral)

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Respondent-HIMUDA has debarred the petitioner for

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six months from participating in any tendering process, vide communication dated 19.7.2019 (Annexure P-3), which is impugned in this writ petition.

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The only reason given for debarring the petitioner for six months from participating in any tendering process in HIMUDA, as spelt out in communication dated 19.7.2019 (Annexure A-3), is that:- “ during the course of negotiation held in the office chamber of

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1 Whether the reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment?

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CEO-cum-Secretary HIMUDA on 25.06.2019 you have refused to reduce your quoted rates for the items’ .

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Debarring the petitioner from participating in the tendering process in HIMUDA on account of his refusal to reduce the quoted rates during negotiation, is highly illegal, arbitrary and capricious act of the respondents. This decision cannot withstand the judicial scrutiny. It is not open for the respondent-HIMUDA to compel a person to reduce his quoted rate and on his such refusal to debar him from participating in the tendering process. A tenderer cannot be forced to reduce the rates against his wishes. Significantly, it has not been disputed by the learned counsel for respondent-HIMUDA that the rates quoted by the petitioner in the tender were less than the estimated cost of tender published by the respondents in the Notice Inviting Tender.

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Therefore, for the aforesaid reasons the impugned communication dated 19.7.2019 (Annexure P-3) debarring the petitioner from participating in any tendering process with HIMUDA is quashed and set aside. The writ petition is accordingly allowed alongwith pending miscellaneous application(s), if any,

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(L. Narayana Swamy), Chief Justice

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December 06, 2019 (uttam)

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(Jyotsna Rewal Dua), Judge

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Kulwinder Singh v. State of Hp and Others

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Kulwinder Singh v. State of Hp and Others

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

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