Expert evaluation of Tender to be carried out only if wrong alleged on part of Tendering Authority: Supreme Court
“Unless arbitrariness or mala fide on the part of the tendering authority is alleged, the expert evaluation of a particular tender, particularly when it comes to technical evaluation, is not to be second-guessed by a writ court.”, this remarkable stand was forwarded by Hon’ble Supreme Court, in a three judge bench chaired by Hon’ble Justice Mr Rohinton Fali Nariman, Mr. Navin Sinha & Mr. K.M. Joseph in the Civil appeal case of Galaxy Transport Agencies, Contractors, Traders, Transports & Suppliers V. New J.K. Roadways, Fleet Owners & Transport Contractors & Ors., [SLP (Civil) No. 12766 of 2020].
In this appeal, the Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Zone, Zonal Police HQR’s Kashmir, Srinagar [“ZPHS”], being Respondent No. 4 before us, invited online tenders (e-tenders) vide e-N.I.T. No. 01 of 2020 dated 18.02.2020 [“N.I.T.”] from reputed transporters, registered firms/associations for the supply of various types of commercial vehicles (without fuel) for the carriage of troops and equipment for the Financial Year 2020-2021. Pursuant to the N.I.T., 4 parties, namely, M/s Associated Contractors; M/s Quareshi Transport Co.; M/s Galaxy Transport Agencies, Contractors, Traders, Transports and Suppliers [“Appellant”]; and M/s New J.K. Roadways, Fleet Owners and Transport Contractors [“JK Roadways”] submitted their bids for consideration and the same were uploaded through an e-tendering system. The tender process consisted of a technical bid and a financial bid. The Tender Opening Committee met on 11.03.2020 and found that JK Roadways, Respondent No. 1 herein, and Associated Contractors did not meet the qualifying requirements of the technical bid, leaving Quareshi Transport Co. and the Appellant, who were considered technically eligible for the allotment of the contract. The Appellant’s financial bid being the lowest, vide an order dated 30.03.2020, the Appellant was allotted the contract for the supply of commercial vehicles for the Financial Year 2020-2021.
A writ petition was filed by JK Roadways seeking the quashing of the allotment of the contract in favour of the Appellant. JK Roadways filed a letters patent appeal before the Division Bench of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir at Srinagar [“Division Bench”]. By the impugned judgment dated 16.10.2020. Resultantly, the judgment of the Single Judge dated 30.06.2020 was set aside and the contract awarded in favour of the Appellant was quashed. The official respondents were directed to invite fresh tenders and complete the process within a period of 1 month from the date of the order of the Division Bench. As a result of this Court’s order, the Appellant has continued executing the awarded work till date, with roughly 3 months left for the completion of the contract period.
After examining all the submissions, arguments and evidences forwarded by the councils, the Hon’ble SC observed that, “we are unable to fathom how the Division Bench, on its own appraisal, arrived at the conclusion that the Appellant held work experience of only 1 year, substituting the appraisal of the expert four-member Tender Opening Committee with its own… we do not think that the scope of this appeal be enlarged to include any such point which appears to have been given up before the Division Bench.”
The bench further added that, “Also, the argument that the Appellant has submitted work experience certificates in the name of “Galaxy Agencies”, which is a separate entity from “Galaxy Transport Agency”, has not been argued either before the Single Judge or before the Division Bench. In this circumstance, we reject this point also.”
In lieu of the above made considerations and observations, the bench in this present case held that, “The Division Bench’s judgment dated 16.10.2020 is therefore set aside and the learned Single Judge’s judgment dated 30.06.2020 is restored.”