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Meghdoot Ghosh Vs. The State of West Bengal and Ors. - (High Court of Calcutta) (17 Dec 2018)

A decision which is merely faulty or erroneous or incorrect should not be a ground for a Court to interfere

MANU/WB/1185/2018

Commercial

The Petitioner has assailed the rejection of his technical bid. The Petitioner has submitted that, not only the rejection of the technical bid of the petitioner was incorrect, but also, the tender evaluation process was not in accordance with the terms and conditions of the tender.

In Afcons Infrastructure Ltd. vs. Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. and Ors. it is held that, the decision making process in accepting or rejecting a bid should not be interfered with unless, it is substantiated that, the decision making process suffers from mala fides or is intended to favour someone or is arbitrary or irrational or such that no reasonable authority acting reasonably in accordance with law could have reached such decision. A perversity of the decision making process can be enquired into. A decision which is merely faulty or erroneous or incorrect should not be a ground for a Court to interfere. A Constitutional Court is expected the exercise restraint in interfering with administrative decision and ought not to substitute its view for that of the administrative authority.

The fact that, a different view can be taken on the selfsame material, is not a valid ground for interference for a Constitutional Court with an administrative decision, unless, it is substantiated that, the decision is tainted with fraud or mala fide or the decision is so erroneous that, no reasonable authority could have arrived at such a conclusion.

In the facts of the present case, the Tender Evaluation Committee evaluated the tender documents and did not take into consideration three of the bill of quantity items in one of the works executed by the petitioner and two bill of quantity items in the other. At best, the Tender Evaluation Committee can be said to have erred in not taking into consideration such bill of quantities. There is no material placed on record to suggest that, the impugned decision was taken in order to favour someone or suffers from mala fides. It is the contention of the Petitioner that, the petitioner had quoted the rate which was 20% less than the initial quote of the private Respondent. Moreover, the authorities accepted the bid of the private respondent after a discount of 2%. Ultimately, the exchequer suffered 18% less for not having accepted the bid of the petitioner. That by itself, will not attribute mala fides in the decision making process nor can the decision arrived at by the Technical Evaluation Committee be said to be taken for the purpose of benefitting the private respondent.

The fact that, the financial bid of the Petitioner was less than 20% of the rate quoted by the private respondent was not known to the Technical Evaluation Committee as the financial bid of the Petitioner was not opened while considering the financial bid of the private respondent. Moreover, the Petitioner had time since January 5, 2018 when, the technical bid opening summary was uploaded till January 11, 2018 when the financial bid was opened, for the petitioner to question the decision of the Technical Evaluation Committee in not considering the petitioner as technically qualified. Nothing is placed on record to suggest that, the Petitioner attempted to do so within such time period. In such circumstances, there is no reason to interfere.

Relevant : Afcons Infrastructure Ltd. vs. Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. and Ors. MANU/SC/1003/2016

Tags : TECHNICAL BID   REJECTION   VALIDITY  

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