Civil Writ Petition No.13368 of 2011 -1- *** IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.13368 of 2011 Date of decision: 1.8.2011 Mohan Transport Co. ...Petitioner Versus Union of India and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE ADARSH KUMAR GOEL, ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE AJAY KUMAR MITTAL Present: Mr. Anil Khetarpal, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Puneet Jindal, Advocate for the respondents. ADARSH KUMAR GOEL, ACJ. This petition seeks direction in the nature of mandamus for supply of information to the petitioner for submission of bid in pursuance of tender notice for the work of out-agency at Hamirpur and Kullu. Case of the petitioner is that as per impugned notice the Railway Administration proposes to allot two railways out-agencies, for three years for the goods traffic, located at Hamirpur and Kullu. The work of the out-agency is to provide transportation service to the customers from the said locations upto the railway station at Chandigarh. Since it was not clear from the tender documents as what would be the estimated quantity and nature of goods required to be transported, which was necessary for giving a bid, the petitioner sent a letter dated 17.7.2011 Annexure P-3. In response thereto, corrigendum dated 22.7.2011 was issued by the Railway Administration mentioning that expenditure on account of transportation and handling of goods traffic Civil Writ Petition No.13368 of 2011 -2- *** was variable depending upon quantum of traffic handled. According to the petitioner in absence of precise information or atleast some information as to estimated quantity and nature of goods required to be transported, there will be denial of level playing field resulting in existing agency alone being in a position to submit a tender, on account of its being privy to such information. In response to the notice, learned counsel for the Railway Administration points out that the experiment of setting up out agency at Harmirpur and Kullu is recent one and precise information of estimated quantity and nature of goods required to be transported could not be given. Such agency has worked only for a year and the information sought is yet to be compiled. The bidders could give their bids in their own way having regard to the estimated quantity and nature of goods required to be transported. The assessment can be made depending on expertise of the bidder. We have heard learned counsel for the parties. Question is whether precise information or atleast a discussion on the issue involved is pre-requisite before tender process is finalised with a view to provide level playing field to all the bidders. We find merit in the plea that it will be essential for the tenderer to have atleast some idea about the scope of work, even if exact estimated quantity and nature of goods required to be transported cannot be spelt out by the Railway Administration. Available information can be shared by way of pre bid conference. This will infact be in the interest of the Railways Administration itself so that more and more competitors participate. Learned counsel for the Railways has not been able to point out any difficulty in holding a pre bid conference. Civil Writ Petition No.13368 of 2011 -3- *** Accordingly, we direct the Railway Administration to give available relevant information mentioned above to concerned bidders in an appropriate manner, including by way of pre bid conference or placing the same on Website, before closing the tender. The writ petition is disposed of accordingly. (Adarsh Kumar Goel) Acting Chief Justice August 01, 2011 (Ajay Kumar Mittal) Pka Judge