HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT PETITION No.6932 OF 2010 ORDER: Heard Sri O.Manoher Reddy, Learned Counsel for the petitioner and Sri R.Ramachandra Reddy, Learned Standing Counsel for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and, at their request, the Writ Petition is being disposed of at the stage of admission. The petitioner is a registered contractor of civil and mechanical works with the first respondent-Corporation. The second respondent called for tenders relating to repairs and replacement of various damaged components of power borewells in Ward No.10 of Hayathnagar and Ward No.11 of Vanastalipuram of L.B. Nagar Circle-3. The tender notice stipulates that the details of the works can be down-loaded from the web-site. The petitioner claims to have uploaded his tender with all necessary documents. He would submit that he and two others participated in the tender but his bid was not opened while the other bids were. On enquiry he came to know that the reason for not opening his bid was that, among the conditions mentioned in the tender notice with regard to the eligibility criteria, the bidder should have a licenced workshop in the vicinity of L.B. Nagar Circle-3. The petitioner would contend that similar works in Alwal Circle were entrusted without such a condition and, if he is given an opportunity, he would open a workshop in L.B. Nagar also. The tender conditions require the tenderer to have the workshop in the vicinity of L.B. Nagar. Sri R.Ramachandra Reddy, Learned Standing Counsel for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, would submit that there are around 273 power borewells and 1050 hand-pumps located within a 85 sq. kilometer Operational Area of L.B. Nagar Circle-3 and the proximity of a workshop, to repair the said pumps, is an essential requirement for entrustment of the work in order to ensure that, in summer season, the pumps are repaired at the earliest. While this submission of the learned Standing Counsel cannot be said to be without merit, the fact remains that the word “vicinity”, as used in the tender notice, is vague and is capable of being understood by different tenderers in a different manner. While one tenderer could contend that a distance of three kilometers from L.B. Nagar Operational Area is within its vicinity, another tenderer could claim that a distance 10 kilometres would also be in the vicinity of L.B. Nagar Operational Area. With a view to ensure that all eligible bidders participate in the tender process, the tender conditions must be clear and specific and not vague as vague conditions would result in arbitrary selection of bidders ignoring the lowest competitive bid. I consider it appropriate, therefore, to set aside the tender notice No.E/5826/1032/2009-10, direct the respondents to issue a tender notification afresh calling for bids clearly specifying the conditions for invitation of tender instead of resorting to vague and uncertain conditions such as “vicinity of the L.B. Nagar Circle”. Till fresh bids are invited and the work is allotted to the most competitive bid of the tenders received, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation is entitled to make interim arrangements for repair of the pump-sets in question as the ensuing summer season would necessitate repairs being carried out forthwith. The Corporation shall, however, ensure that a fresh tender notification inviting bids is issued at the earliest, in any event not later than one month from today, and, thereafter, proceed to finalise the bids in accordance with law. The Writ Petition is, accordingly, disposed of. However, in the circumstances, without costs. RAMESH RANGANATHAN, J Date:01.04.2010 Usd/asp