Delhi High Court T.N. Singh vs Container Corporation Of India Ltd on 3 September, 2015 % Judgment delivered on: 03.09.2015 + W.P.(C) 8016/2015 & CM 16406/2015 M/S S. B. TRANSPORT COMPANY .... Petitioner versus CONTAINER CORPORATION OF INDIA AND ANR .....Respondents + W.P.(C) 8238/2015 & CM 17285/2015 T.N. SINGH ....Petitioner versus CONTAINER CORPORATION OF INDIA LTD ....Respondent Advocates who appeared in this case: For the Petitioner in WPC 8016/2015 : Ms Maninder Acharya, Sr Advocate with Mr Vikas Sethi and Mr Kunal Jungid For the Petitioner in WPC 8238/2015 : Mr Sandeep Sethi, Sr Advocate with Mr Abhijeet Sinha, Mr Arijit Mazumdar, Mr Gautam Bajaj and Mr Sindhu Sinha For the Respondent / Container : Mr Rishi K. Awasthi Corporation of India HON'BLE MR JUSTICE BADAR DURREZ AHMED HON'BLE MR JUSTICE V. KAMESWAR RAO JUDGMENT BADAR DURREZ AHMED, J (ORAL) 1. These petitions deal with the same subject matter and, therefore, are being considered together. We shall first of all take up WPC 8238/2015 WP(C) 8016/2015 & 8238/2015 Page 1 of 32 (T.N. Singh v. Container Corporation of India Ltd.) and then consider WPC 8016/2015 (M/s S.B. Transport Company v. Container Corporation of India and Anr.). 2. These petitions pertain to a notice inviting tender through etendering mode which was issued on 07.05.2015. It was an Online Open Tender under a Two Bid System for the Contact for Terminal Transportation of Loaded / Empty DSO/ISO containers at ICD/TKD. Paragraph 3 of the tender notice was as under: "3. Complete tender papers duly accompanied with requisite EMD shall be received online as per date and time mentioned below and may be opened in presence of the bidders or their authorized representatives. Tender No. CON/NR/TC/TKD/TTO/2015 Name of Work Terminal Transportation of Loaded/Empty Containers at ICD/TKD Estimated Cost Rs 13,07,55,000/ Per Annum Period of Contract 4 years +1 year Earnest Money Rs 5,00,000/through ePayment. Deposit Cost of Document Rs 1000/ inclusive of all taxes and duties through epayment. Tender Processing Rs 10,112/ Inclusive of all taxes and duties (Nonrefundable) Fee through epayment. Date of Sale From 07.05.2015 at 15:00 hrs. to 03.06.2015 (upto 16:00 hrs.) (Online) PreBid meeting 21.05.2015 at 15:00 Hrs. WP(C) 8016/2015 & 8238/2015 Page 2 of 32 Issue of On or after 23.05.2015 at 15:00 Hrs. on Corrigendum, if any www.tenderwizard.com/CCIL only Date & Time of 04.06.2015 at 15:00 Hrs. submission of tender Date & Time of 06.06.2015 at 15:30 Hrs." opening of tender From the above extract, the points which are relevant for consideration of these writ petitions is that an earnest money deposit of Rs 5 lakhs through e payment was required. Another aspect which needs to be kept in mind is that the cost of the tender document was Rs 1,000/ which was also inclusive of all taxes and duties to be paid through epayment. 3. Paragraph 4 of the said tender notice stipulated that the EMD was to be paid through epayment and the receipt of the same was required to be scanned and uploaded in the etendering website given therein. The said paragraph also stipulated that the bid document could be downloaded from the website (www.tenderwizard.com/CCIL) and that the intending bidders should submit the document sale price of Rs 1000/ though epayment at the time of making the online request. At the end of the notice there were several notes which were as under: "Note: 1. Tender Document/sets shall be provided free of cost to Micro & Small enterprises (MSE's) registered with the listed agencies. WP(C) 8016/2015 & 8238/2015 Page 3 of 32 2. MSEs registered with the agencies for the item tendered will be exempted from payment of Earnest Money Deposit (EMD). 3. MSEs who are interested in availing themselves of these benefit