M/S Impex INDIA And Anr. vs. Union Of INDIA And 2 Ors
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The petitioners, M/s Impex India and its proprietor Deepesh Jain, challenged 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 the last date for submission being 04.04.2018. The petitioners did not participate in the clarification phase or the pre-bid meeting. The petitioner's uploaded license was valid only until 31.03.2018, not the stipulated 30.04.2019. The GST registration certificate was uploaded instead of a GST clearance certificate, and the financial stability certificate was issued by a bank without detailing the petitioner's financial credentials.
Held
The Court held that the petitioner's tender was not compliant with the tender conditions. Regarding the license, the Court noted that the petitioner's uploaded license expired on 31.03.2018, failing to meet the tender stipulation of validity up to 30.04.2019. While the petitioner argued about the practice of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation issuing one-year licenses, the Court observed that this aspect was not brought to the authorities' notice during the pre-bid meeting, which the petitioner failed to attend. The Court also found that the petitioner did not upload the GST Clearance Certificate, submitting only the GST Registration Certificate. Furthermore, the financial stability certificate provided by the bank was deemed insufficient as it did not detail the petitioner's financial credentials but merely stated the bank's ability to provide credit facilities. Consequently, the Court found no reason to interfere with the impugned order rejecting the petitioner's technical bid.
Key Issues
1. Whether the petitioner's uploaded license, valid only up to 31.03.2018, complied with the tender condition requiring a license valid up to 30.04.2019, thereby raising a question of compliance with tender conditions under general administrative law. 2. Whether the petitioner's submission of a GST Registration Certificate instead of a GST Clearance Certificate constituted a material defect in the tender submission, concerning compliance with tender requirements. 3. Whether the financial stability certificate uploaded by the petitioner met the tender's requirement for demonstrating financial stability, involving an interpretation of tender stipulations. Petitioner's Contention: The petitioner argued that the Guwahati Municipal Corporation typically issues licenses for only one year, making it impossible to upload a license valid until 30.04.2019. The petitioner relied on the fact that the uploaded license was valid up to 31.03.2018. Revenue's Contention: The respondents (Union of India and others) contended that the petitioner failed to upload the required documents as per the tender conditions, including a valid license, GST clearance certificate, and a proper financial stability certificate. They highlighted that the petitioner did not avail the opportunity of the pre-bid meeting to clarify these issues.
Sections Cited
Article 226
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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 Financial Stability Certificate, which the petitioner uploaded, shows that the Certificate
Page No.# 3/3 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.