IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE TWENTY FIFTH DAY OF JUNE TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION No.7823 of 2009 Between: G.Narender Reddy, S/o. Pratap Reddy, R/o.H.No.6-2-145, APHB Coloy, Near Rajiv Nagar, Nalgonda District,A.P., ..... PETITIONER AND 1 Government of Andhra Pradesh, Rep by its Principal Secretary, Panchayath Raj Department, Secretariat Buildings, Hyderabad. 2 The Chief Engineer, Panchayath Raj Department(RIAD), Erramanzil, Hyderabad. 3 The Superintending Engineer, (RIAD), Panchayath Raj Department, Nalgonda, Nalgonda District. 4 The Executive Engineer, (RIAD), Panchayath Raj Department, Miryalguda, Nalgonda District. 5 M/s Sri Venkateshwara Constructions rep by its Proprietor, VLR Complex, Cumbhum, Prakasham District. .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a writ, order or direction more particularly one in the nature of "Writ of Mandamus" declaring the action of the 3rd respondent in disqualifying the petitioner in technical bid evaluation by issuing proceedings in Lr.No.D2/Tender- RIAD/346/2008-09 Dated 13.03.2009, as being illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional and evaluating in the price bid by setting aside the proceedings in Lr.No.D2/Tender-RIAD/346/2008-09 Dated 13.03.2009 and pass Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.PATLOLLA VENKAT REDDY Counsel for the Respondent Nos.1 to 4: GP FOR PANCHAYAT RAJ & RURAL DEV. Counsel for the Respondent No.5: MR.B.SARVOTHAM REDDY The Court made the following : ORDER: This writ petition is filed questioning the action of the third respondent- Superintending Engineer (RIAD), Panchayat Raj Department, Nalgonda, in disqualifying the petitioner in technical bid evaluation vide proceedings dated 13.03.2009 on the ground that he has not submitted mandatory documents. The petitioner is a registered Special Class Contractor with the first respondent-Government. In response to the Tender Notice issued by the second respondent-the Chief Engineer, Panchayat Raj Department (RIAD), for laying 7 kms road from Sagar PWD Road to Surepally on ‘E’-procurement basis, the petitioner submitted his tender along with others. He claims to have submitted all the requisite documents by uploading the same in the website as per the terms and conditions of the said Tender Notice before the cut off date, except the latest SARAL Certificate, because of some technical error. However, on the ground that the petitioner did not submit the latest SARAL Certificate, the third respondent disqualified him and declared the fifth respondent as the highest bidder. Therefore, he made a representation to the second respondent on 19.03.2009 to direct the third respondent to consider his case also, but no action has been taken by the second respondent. Hence, this writ petition. This Court, while issuing notice before admission on 17.04.2009, directed status quo with regard to execution of agreements to be maintained. By order, dated 29.04.2009, again the said order was modified by this Court as under: “Interim order dated 17.04.2009, however does not preclude the respondents from considering the tender of the petitioner also. In case, any third party emerges as successful tenderer, further steps can be taken. On the other hand, if the petitioner emerges as lowest tenderer, the award of the contract shall be deferred till reopening of the tender.” Seeking vacation of the above said interim orders, respondents 1 to 4 as well as respondent No.5 have filed vacate stay petitions along with counter affidavits. In the counter-affidavit filed by respondents 1 to 4 at paragraph No.2 it is stated as under: “It is further submitted that as per the conditions of the tender document dated above, under Para 16.4 at Pg.No.12 it is quoted as follows: The following self attested certificates, documents etc., are to be scanned and uploaded on to the e-procurement platform at www.eprocurement.gov.in. Under this as condition C) Latest SARAL Form submitted to IT Department with PAN CARD should be uploaded at the time of submitting the bid and as per condition N) it is mentioned that non furnishing of one or any of certificates as specified from A) to K) may entitle to rejection of the bid.” It is contended that since the petitioner himself has admitted that he could not upload the latest SARAL Certificate due to some technical errors, his tender being incomplete, is liable to be rejected having regard to the fact that submission of latest SARAL Certificate apart from fifteen other documents along with the Tender, are mandatory. He further contended that under Para 16.4 (N) of the Tender Document, non-submission of any of the documents mentioned in Clauses A to K, would automatically entail rejection of the Tender. Hence, no exception can be taken to the rejection of the tender of the petitioner. Respondent No.5-Sri Venkateshwara Constructions also filed a counter-affidavit stating that since the petitioner failed to upload the latest SARAL form while submitting the tender, which is mandatory, the rejection of the tender of the petitioner by the authorities cannot be found fault with. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned counsel appearing for the respondents and perused the material available on record. According to the terms and conditions of the Tender, submission of the following documents along with the tender are mandatory: 1. Certificate in support of existing commitment. 2. Copy of VAT Registration Certificate along with TIN No. obtained from Commercial Tax Department. 3. Details of the existing commitments. 4. Experience certificate within the block period in support of quantities executed. 5. Information regarding any litigation. 6. Latest Commercial Tax Clearance Certificate. 7. Liquid assets, credit facility and availability of other financial resources such as latest solvency etc. 8. Pan, Latest SARAL Certificate. 9. Qualification certificate of key personnel. 10. Reports on the financial standing of the bidder such as profit and loss statements and auditors reports for the past three years. 11. Scanned copy of declaration on critical equipment owned on non-judicial stamp paper of Rs.100. 12. Similar Work Road Completed within the Block Period experience certificate. 13. Registration Certificate. 14. EMD Certificate. 15. Transaction Fee Certificate payable at C1 India. 16. Annual Turn over Certificate certified by CA or issued by Executing Authority along with balance sheet. It is the admitted case of the petitioner that he has not submitted Pan, latest SARAL Certificate, as there was some technical error in uploading the said document in the website. Para 16.4 (N) of the Tender clearly stipulates that non-submission of any of the documents mentioned in Clauses A to K (including SARAL Certificate) would entail rejection of the tender. Since the petitioner has not submitted the latest SARAL Certificate, which is mandatory, and having regard to Clauses A to K in para 16.4, no exception can be taken to the action of respondent Nos. 1 to 4 in rejecting the tender of the petitioner, even though the petitioner claims that his tender is the lowest. Hence, I see no reason to interfere with the impugned rejection order passed by the respondents rejecting the tender of the petitioner. The writ petition is accordingly dismissed. N.V.RAMANA, J Date: 25.06.2009 va