A transporter who topped the price bid in an IOCL road transportation tender challenged non-issuance of the Letter of Acceptance and sought quashing of the tender process. The Court found clause 1.11 ranking placed him fifteenth, with quota exhausted earlier, and dismissed the petition.
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.12079 of 2023
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M/s Asharfi Road lines through its Partner, Md. Iftekhar Khan, male, aged about 47 years, S/o Md. Navi Raza Khan, resident of Village and P.O.-Deona Tilrath, Ward No. 03, Deonah, District-Begusarai.
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
... ... Respondent/s
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Appearance : For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Alok Ranjan, Advocate For the Respondent/s : Mr. Ankit Katriar, Advocate
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CORAM: HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE and HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PARTHA SARTHY CAV JUDGMENT
(Per: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PARTHA SARTHY)
Date : 22-08-2024
Patna High Court CWJC No.12079 of 2023 dt.22-08-2024 2/6
praying for quashing the letter dated 25.7.2023 issued by the Chief General Manager (Operations), IOC whereby the petitioner was communicated as to why Letter of Acceptance (‘LOA’ in short) was not issued in his favour, for directing the respondents to issue LOA in favour of the petitioner, to cancel the entire tender process of NIT bearing reference no. RCC/ERO/37/2022-23/PT-175 and for other reliefs.
Patna High Court CWJC No.12079 of 2023 dt.22-08-2024 3/6
representation and to pass a detailed speaking order within a month. It is the case of the petitioner that a representation was filed before the IOC which was disposed of by letter dated 25.7.2023 written by the Chief General Manager, (Operations), Bihar State Office, Patna, which is impugned herein.
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for this reason that the petitioner has made an evasive statement to the effect that he had offered eleven new tank-trucks. Referring to the contents of the letter dated 25.7.2023, impugned in the writ application it is submitted that in the ranking prepared, the petitioner was placed at the fifteenth position and the required quota of tank-trucks having been exhausted much before the petitioner’s ranking, the petitioner was not issued with the LOA.
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petitioner’s ranking, LOA was not issued in favour of the petitioner.
“ Regarding the petitioner's allegation that LOA has been issued to one bidder who had offered 6 TTs only, is completely misleading. The said bidder had actually applied with 24 TTs, but got LOA for 6 TTs only, for the reason that, based on the average age of the fleet, the said bidder's ranking was 7th (L1/7) among LOT1/L1 tenderers, but LOA could be issued for only 6 of his TTs as NIT requirements were fulfilled after taking 6 TTs from the 24 TTs that were offered by him.
11. That, based on the foregoing, it is evident that the petitioner's position in the ranking came as 15th based on total TTs offered by all the tenderers. Furthermore, the required quota of TTs got exhausted before the petitioner's rank was reached. As such, no LOA could have been issued to the Petitioner.”
case, the Court is of the opinion that there is no merit in the
Patna High Court CWJC No.12079 of 2023 dt.22-08-2024 6/6
instant application and the petitioner has not made out any case
for grant of any relief as prayed for.
(Partha Sarthy, J)
K. Vinod Chandran, CJ: I agree.
(K. Vinod Chandran, CJ)
Harsh/-
| AFR/NAFR | NAFR |
|---|---|
| CAV DATE | 06.08.2024 |
| Uploading Date | 22.08.2024 |
| Transmission Date | 22.08.2024 |
2 issues framed by the court
Whether the petitioner was wrongly denied the Letter of Acceptance despite quoting the L1 rate in the IOC tender for road transportation of bulk petroleum products.
Whether the ranking under clause 1.11 of the NIT justified non-issuance of LOA to the petitioner ranked fifteenth.
M/s Asharfi Road Lines through its Partner, Md. Iftekhar Khan
The Chairman, Indian Oil Corporation Limited
The Manager Contracts ERO, Regional Contract Cell, IOCL
The CGM (Operations) IOCL, Bihar State Office
The Executive Director and State Head, Bihar State Office, IOCL
Sultania Carriers Pvt. Ltd.
K. Vinod Chandran
Partha Sarthy
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
