M/S Impex INDIA And Anr vs. The Union Of INDIA And 2 Ors
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The petitioners, M/s Impex India and its proprietor Deepesh Jain, filed a writ petition challenging an order dated 19.04.2018 issued by the Deputy Inspector General, Frontier Headquarter SSB, Tezpur. This order rejected the petitioner's technical bid for a tender to purchase free ration for SHQ, Bomdila, Arunachal Pradesh. The rejection was based on several alleged shortcomings: failure to upload a valid license/registration, performance certificate, GST clearance certificate, and financial stability certificate. The tender was issued on 14.03.2018, with a submission deadline of 04.04.2018. The petitioner did not participate in the clarification phase or the pre-bid meeting. The petitioner claimed to have uploaded a license valid until 31.03.2018, while the tender required validity until 30.04.2019. They also uploaded a GST Registration Certificate instead of a GST Clearance Certificate and a bank certificate for financial stability that lacked specific financial credentials.
Held
The Court held that the petitioner's technical bid was rightly rejected. Regarding the license, the Court noted that the petitioner's uploaded license expired on 31.03.2018, failing to meet the tender's stipulated validity of 30.04.2019. While the petitioner argued about the practice of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation, the Court observed that this aspect could have been raised during the pre-bid meeting, an opportunity the petitioner did not avail. The Court also found that the petitioner uploaded a GST Registration Certificate instead of the required GST Clearance Certificate. Furthermore, the Financial Stability Certificate uploaded by the petitioner was deemed insufficient as it lacked specific financial credentials and merely stated the bank's ability to provide credit facilities under certain conditions. Although the judgment noted that uploading a Performance Certificate was not obligatory, the other deficiencies were sufficient grounds for rejection. Therefore, no interference was called for with the impugned order.
Key Issues
1. Whether the petitioner's uploaded license, valid until 31.03.2018, met the tender requirement for a license valid until 30.04.2019? The petitioner argued that the Guwahati Municipal Corporation typically issues licenses for only one year, making it impossible to upload a license with the stipulated longer validity. The respondents contended that the petitioner failed to upload a license meeting the tender's validity requirement. 2. Whether the petitioner's uploaded GST Registration Certificate satisfied the tender requirement for a GST Clearance Certificate? The petitioner uploaded a GST Registration Certificate, not a GST Clearance Certificate. The respondents argued this was a non-compliance. 3. Whether the uploaded Financial Stability Certificate met the tender requirements? The petitioner uploaded a bank certificate stating it could provide credit facilities subject to terms, but it lacked specific financial credentials. The respondents argued this certificate was inadequate. 4. Whether the petitioner's failure to upload a Performance Certificate, if required, constituted a ground for rejection? The judgment notes that Clause-12(vii) of the tender notice indicates it is not obligatory to upload a Performance Certificate.
Sections Cited
Section 226
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Cause title — parties, addresses and appearances
ORDER Date : 23-05-2018 Heard Mr. N. Alam, learned counsel for the petitioners. Also heard Mr. S.C. Keyal, learned Assistant Solicitor General of India, appearing for all the respondents. Mr.
Page No.# 2/3 Gobinda Kumar Nath, Circle Organizer, SSB, Tezpur, who has assisted Mr. Keyal, is also heard. By filing this writ application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioners challenge the order dated 19.04.2018 issued by the Deputy Inspector General, Frontier Headquarter SSB, Tezpur, whereby it was observed that the tender of the petitioner submitted in response to the e-tender for purchase of free ration in respect of SHQ, Bomdila, Arunachal Pradesh was not to be considered for further technical evaluation, thus, in essence, rejecting the technical bid of the petitioner. The shortcomings, as indicated therein, are as follows:- “1. License/Registration has not been uploaded.
Performance Certificate has not been uploaded.
GST Clearance Certificate not uploaded.
Financial Stability Certificate has not been uploaded.” The tender was issued on 14.03.2018, fixing 17.03.2018 and 20.03.2018 as clarification start date and clarification end date, respectively. Pre-bid meeting was fixed on 21.03.2018 at 10:00 hours. The last date of submission of the tender was 04.04.2018 at 10:00 hours. The tender required submission of, amongst others, scanned copy of licence/registration number of the Supplier/Firm (valid up to 30.04.2019); scanned copy of Performance Certificate of units/CO, if any; scanned copy of latest GST Clearance Certificate and Financial Stability Certificate. The petitioner did not take part in clarification phase or at the Pre-bid meeting. The language is not very happily worded in the order dated 19.04.2018, when it is reflected that the petitioner did not upload License/Registration Certificate. The licence annexed to the writ petition, which, according to the petitioner, was uploaded along with his tender, demonstrates that the licence was valid up to 31.03.2018. In that sense, the petitioner did not upload License which is valid up to 30.04.2019, which is the laid down stipulation in the tender. Perusal of Clause-12(vii) of the tender notice, however, shows that it is not obligatory to upload Performance Certificate. The petitioner did not upload GST Clearance Certificate and had only uploaded the GST Registration Certificate. The Page No.# 3/3 Financial Stability Certificate, which the petitioner uploaded, shows that the Certificate was issued by the Bank without any risk, responsibility and liability and financial credentials of the petitioner is conspicuously absent. All that the Bank Certificate goes to show is that the Bank would be in a position to provide credit facilities to meet working capital requirements for executing the contract subject to fulfillment of Bank’s terms and conditions and other rules laid down for such type of credit facility as per the Bank’ credit facility. In the above view of the matter, the tender of the petitioner was held to be not compliant of the tender conditions. Apart from anything else, the licence of the petitioner itself expired on 31.03.2018. Mr. Alam has submitted that there is a practice of Guwahati Municipal Corporation to issue licence for 1(one) year only at a time and, therefore, the petitioner could not upload the licence with validity till 30.04.2019. The petitioner could have brought to the notice of the authorities the above aspect of the matter in the Pre-bid meeting, which opportunity the petitioner did not avail of. Having regard to the deficiencies in the tender document of the petitioner, I am of the considered opinion that no interference is called for with the impugned order dated 19.04.2018 and accordingly, the same is dismissed. J U D G E M. Sharma Comparing Assistant
Reproduced from the public record of the Gauhati High Court. Verify against the court's own copy before relying on it. Income tax judgments are on bharattax.net.