Appeal against an order dismissing a petition seeking acceptance of a pre-qualification bid. The High Court upheld the lower court's finding that condoning missing documents would give the petitioner an unfair advantage, upholding the principle of equality in tender processes. Appeal dismissed.
The written appeal was dismissed.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT:
THE HONOURABLE THE ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE MR.HRISHIKESH ROY &
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.K.JAYASANKARAN NAMBIAR
TUESDAY, THE 4TH DAY OF JULY 2018 / 13TH ASHADHA, 1940
WA.No. 1317 of 2018 IN WPC. 7986/2018
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AGAINST THE JUDGMENT IN WP(C) 7986/2018 of HIGH COURT OF KERALA DATED 22.6.2018
APPELLANT/PETITIONER:
AJI PETER S/O K.P PATHROSE, AGED 45 YEARS, "A" CLASS CONTRACTOR, KURUMPALAKATTU HOUSE, NECHOOR PO, PIRAVOM, ERNAKULAM DISTRICT.
BY ADVS.SRI.BABU JOSEPH KURUVATHAZHA SRI.P.T.ABHILASH
RESPONDENTS/RESPONDENTS:
1. STATE OF KERALA REPRESENTED BY SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT, PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT, GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695 001.
2. THE CHIEF ENGINEER, PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT (ROADS), PUBLIC OFFICE, MUSEUM PO, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695 033.
3. THE SUPERINTENDING ENGINEER, PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT (ROADS & BRIDGES), PUBLIC OFFICE, MUSEUM PO, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695 033.
BY SR. GOVERNMENT PLEADER SRI.TEKCHAND V.
THIS WRIT APPEAL HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON 04-07-2018, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
vpv
HRISHIKESH ROY, Ag.C.J. & A.K.JAYASANKARAN NAMBIAR, J.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - W.A.No.1317 of 2018
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dated this the 4th day of July, 2018
JUDGMENT
A.K.Jayasankaran Nambiar, J.
Petitioner in W.P.(C)7986/18 is the appellant before us. For the sake of convenience, the reference to the parties is as in the writ petition. The petitioner who had participated in Ext.P4 tender had filed the writ petition seeking a direction to the second and third respondents to accept the pre-qualification bid given by the petitioner in respect of the work concerned, without insisting on the conditions stipulated in clause 4.4.1.10 of Ext.P4 read with clause 2.6 of Ext.P5. It is the admitted case that the petitioner did not furnish the necessary documents as contained in the aforementioned clauses, which was required to be submitted for the purpose of evaluating his prequalification bid. The case of the petitioner was essentially that, inasmuch as he was an approved contractor for the Government, and he had completed certain works for the Government in the recent past, the financial position of the petitioner was already known to the Government, who was the awarder of the contract in question. The learned Single Judge, while noting the said contentions of the petitioner found that merely because the financial position of the petitioner was known to the statutory authority, the petitioner could not claim an exemption from the requirement of production of the necessary documents to show that he had adequate working capital, of more than 10% of the probable estimated cost of work for which he was bidding. It was the finding of the learned Single Judge that the petitioner could not be given an undue advantage, when compared to the other tenderers who had responded to the
W.A.No.1317 of 2018
: 2 :
tender, in the matter of furnishing information.
sd/- HRISHIKESH ROY ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE
sd/- A.K.JAYASANKARAN NAMBIAR, JUDGE
jes
1 issue framed by the court
Whether the High Court должен interfere with the single judge's finding that condoning absence of documents would confer unfair advantage over other tenderers.
Aji Peter
State of Kerala
Chief Engineer, Public Works Department
Superintending Engineer, Public Works Department
Hrishikesh Roy
A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
