04 April 2011
Supreme Court
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GLODYNE TECHNOSERVE LIMITED Vs STATE OF M.P..

Bench: ALTAMAS KABIR,CYRIAC JOSEPH, , ,
Case number: C.A. No.-002907-002907 / 2011
Diary number: 23981 / 2010
Advocates: VIKAS MEHTA Vs


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REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CIVIL APPEAL NO.2907  OF 2011

(Arising out of S.L.P.(C)No.21899 of 2010)

Glodyne Technoserve Ltd. …    Appellant  Vs.

State of M.P. & Ors.  …    Respondents

J U D G M E N T

ALTAMAS KABIR, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. The Appellant is a Public Limited Company which  

claims to have an annual turnover of almost Rs.750

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crores  and  has  been  carrying  out  large  scale  

infrastructure  projects  for  various  State  

Governments  in  India,  including  Maharashtra  and  

Bihar, where bio-metrics of millions of people are  

required to be collected to ensure identification  

of  the  population  which  is  targeted  as  

beneficiaries  of  various  Government  Welfare  

Schemes,  such  as  the  National  Rural  Employment  

Guarantee Scheme.  The Appellant Company has been  

holding ISO 9001:2000 Certificate for the highest  

quality  standards  in  respect  of  the  services  

rendered by it.  The Appellant Company claims to  

have carried out a pilot project in respect of 10  

shops in the State Government Public Distribution  

System in Bhopal.   

3. On  12th December,  2009,  the  Government  of  

Madhya  Pradesh  in  the  Department  of  Food,  Civil  

Supplies  and  Consumer  Protection,  hereinafter  

referred  to  as  “FCS”,  issued  a  Request  for  

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Proposal, hereinafter referred to as “RFP”, for the  

appointment of a vendor for District Mechanism for  

Public Distribution System, hereinafter referred to  

as “PDS”.  The last date for submission of bids was  

7th January, 2010, which was subsequently extended  

till 17th February, 2010.

4. The RFP, as it stood at the time when the bids  

were  invited,  included  Section  3.1  which,  inter  

alia, provides that the bidder/one partner in the  

consortium must possess a valid certification in  

the  Capability  Maturity  Model  (CMM  level  3  or  

above).  In addition, the bidder/all partners of  

consortium (in case of consortium) should have an  

active  (valid  at  least  till  June,  2010)  ISO  

9001:2000 certificate which had to be submitted as  

qualifying documents.

5. Subsequently, on 18th January, 2010, the pre-

qualification  (Eligibility  Criteria)  provided  in  

the RFP was changed and the corrigendum, as far as  

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it relates to Section 3.1, was amended so that the  

bidder/one partner in the consortium had to possess  

a valid certification in the Capability Maturity  

Model  (CMM  level  3  or  above).   In  case  of  

consortium,  the  partner  developing  the  software  

application should have CMM level 3 certification  

and the bidder/lead partners of the consortium (in  

case of consortium, should have an active (valid at  

least till June, 2010) ISO 9001:2000 certification  

at  the  time  of  submission  of  the  bid.   The  

documents  to  be  submitted  along  with  the  bid  

remained the same.  Vide the corrigendum dated 18th  

January,  2010,  Section  7  which  provided  for  the  

Bidder Check List, was also altered.  Prior to its  

amendment,  Section  7.1.1  provided  that  the  

Company/one partner in the consortium (in case of  

consortium)  should  have  an  active  ISO  9001:2000  

certification at the time of submission of the bid,  

and it was also provided that a copy of the Quality  

Certificate or documentation of the quality policy  

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were required to be provided along with the bid  

document.  It was also submitted that in case the  

certificate  was  issued  for  renewal,  the  bidder  

should ensure that the renewed certificate was made  

available at the time of signing of the contract.  

It was mentioned that in case the same was not  

provided,  the  Department  may  consider  initiating  

the Award of the contract with the second lowest  

bidder.  The criteria relating to the documents to  

be  submitted  as  qualifying  documents  included  a  

copy  of  the  quality  certificate/documentation  of  

quality policy.  The corrigendum dated 18th January,  

2010, amended the said provision to indicate that  

the  bidder/one  partner  in  the  consortium  must  

possess  a  valid  certification  in  the  Capability  

Maturity Model (CMM level 3 or above), in case of  

consortium  the  partner  developing  the  software  

application  was  required  to  have  CMM  level  3  

certification.   It  was  further  stated  that  the  

bidder/lead partners of the consortium (in case of  

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consortium) should have an active (valid at least  

till June, 2010) ISO 9001:2000 certification at the  

time of the submission of the bid.  The documents  

to  be  submitted  along  with  the  bid  remained  

unchanged.

6. The  question  for  decision  in  this  case  is  

whether, on account of the corrigendum whereby the  

provisions of Section 3 of the Tender documents and  

Section 7 of the Bidder’s Check List were amended,  

the appellant was, disqualified from consideration,  

in view of the fact that along with the Tender  

documents  it  had  filed,  through  inadvertence  or  

otherwise, a copy of the ISO 9001:2000 certificate  

of the previous year, instead of the current year,  

although, it did have the said valid ISO 9001:2000  

certificate at the time of making of the bid.      

7. The  case  of  the  Appellant  depends  almost  

entirely  on  the  submission  that  on  the  date  of  

submission of the Bid, it had a valid and active  

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ISO  9001:2000  certification,  but  that  through  

inadvertence  the  expired  certification  of  the  

previous year had been filed along with the bid  

papers.   

8. Mr. Harish N. Salve, learned Senior Advocate,  

appearing for the Appellant Company, submitted that  

even if no ISO 9001:2000 certification was filed  

along with the bid documents, it would have made no  

difference and the submission of the bid would have  

been fully valid in view of Section 7.1.1, which  

consists of the Bidder’s Check List and indicates  

what were the requirements for a valid bid and what  

supporting  documents  were  to  be  submitted  along  

with the bid papers.  Referring to Clause 9 of the  

aforesaid  Section,  which  deals  with  Quality  

Certification,  Mr.  Salve  pointed  out  that  the  

requirement  of  the  said  Clause  was  that  the  

Company/one of the partners of the consortium (in  

case  of  consortium)  should  have  an  active  ISO  

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9001:2000 certification at the time of submission  

of the Bid.  Mr. Salve submitted that the said  

condition was duly satisfied by the Appellant who  

had  such  a  valid  and  active  ISO  9001:2000  

certification when the bid documents were filed.

9. Mr. Salve submitted that, although, one of the  

conditions of the Tender document required that the  

Quality Certification and the documentation of the  

quality policy were to be provided along with the  

bid  documents  as  supporting  documents,  Clause  9  

also provided that in case the certificate was due  

for  renewal,  the  bidder  should  ensure  that  the  

renewal certificate was made available at the time  

of signing of the contract.  In case the same was  

not  provided,  the  department  could  consider  

negotiating the award of contract with the second  

lowest bidder.  Mr. Salve submitted that it would  

be clear from the said condition that it was not  

absolutely necessary for the valid ISO 9001:2000  

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certification  to  be  filed  along  with  the  bid  

documents and that they could be filed before the  

agreement was ultimately signed.  Mr. Salve once  

again reiterated that despite having such a valid  

certificate,  through  inadvertence  the  previous  

year’s certificate had been enclosed with the bid  

documents.  It was urged by learned Counsel that  

this is not a case of a tenderer not having a valid  

certification,  as  required,  but  a  case  of  not  

filing it with the bid documents, despite having  

the same.  Mr. Salve urged that in view of Clause 9  

of Section 7.1.1, the Appellant’s bid documents had  

been wrongly rejected at the Technical Bid stage,  

without even considering the Financial Bid which  

had been submitted by it.   

10. In addition to the above, Mr. Salve submitted  

that after the Financial Bids, except that of the  

Appellant, were opened, the Appellant came to learn  

that its offer was about 200 crores less than the  

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second-lowest  tenderer  to  whom  the  contract  was  

ultimately given and that by awarding the contract  

to the second lowest tenderer, the State of Madhya  

Pradesh was incurring a loss of such a huge amount.  

11. Mr.  Salve  urged  that  the  aforesaid  position  

would be further strengthened from Section 3 of the  

Request  for  Proposal  which  contained  the  pre-

qualification  (eligibility)  criteria  relating  to  

technical,  operational,  functional  and  other  

requirements.  Mr. Salve submitted that Clause 3 of  

Section 3.1 provides that the bidder/one partner in  

the consortium must possess a valid certification  

in the Capability Maturity Model, which condition  

had been duly satisfied, and that all the partners  

of the consortium (in case of consortium) should  

have an active (valid at least till June, 2010) ISO  

9001:2000 certification, at the time of submission  

of the bid.  Mr. Salve submitted that all those  

documents to be submitted as qualifying documents,  

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included the Quality Certificate and ISO 9001:2000  

certificate, and if the said condition is read with  

the  conditions  contained  in  Clause  9  of  Section  

7.1.1  of  the  RFP,  it  would  be  seen  that  the  

requirement of a valid ISO 9001:2000 certification  

on the date of submission of the Bid documents was  

duly satisfied in the Appellant’s case.     

12. Mr. Salve also referred to the correspondence  

between Shri Naveen Prakash, the representative of  

the  Wipro  Consulting  Services,  which  had  been  

appointed  a  consultant  for  the  selection  of  

suitable candidates, and Shri Sandeep R. Chalke,  

who was the Chief Executive of QAL International  

Certification (India), which was the repository of  

information  relating  to  such  certificates.   Mr.  

Salve pointed out that Shri Naveen Prakash had sent  

an  E-mail  to  Shri  Sandeep  R.  Chalke,  requesting  

information as to whether Glodyne Technoserve Ltd.,  

the  Appellant  herein,  had  a  valid  ISO  9001:2000  

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certificate at the relevant point of time.  It was  

pointed  out  that  in  reply,  Shri  Chalke  informed  

Shri Naveen Prakash on 10th April, 2010, that the  

certificate of the Appellant as on the current date  

was active and valid till 18th November, 2010, and  

would  continue  to  be  valid  thereafter  if  the  

reassessment  was  conducted  on  or  before  18th  

November,  2010.   Mr.  Salve  submitted  that  Shri  

Naveen  Prakash,  as  the  representative  of  the  

consultant,  was  present  at  every  meeting  of  the  

Committee  which  had  been  set  up  to  oversee  the  

Tender process and on the date when the Appellant’s  

bid was rejected on account of non-compliance with  

Clause  9  of  Section  7.1.1  of  the  RFP,  he  had  

knowledge  of  the  fact  that  the  Appellant  had  a  

valid and active ISO 9001:2000 certification which  

would  expire  only  on  18th November,  2009,  unless  

continued after reassessment.   

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13. Mr. Salve referred to the affidavit affirmed by  

Shri  Ajit  Kesari,  the  Commissioner-cum-Director,  

Food,  Civil  Supplies  and  Consumer  Protection,  

Government of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal, on 8th July,  

2010, which clearly indicated that the Respondents  

concerned  had  due  notice  of  the  fact  that  the  

Appellant held an active ISO 9001:2000 certificate  

which was valid till 18th November, 2009.  Mr. Salve  

submitted  that  the  information  received  by  Shri  

Naveen  Prakash  from  Shri  Sandeep  R.  Chalke  was  

forwarded  to  Shri  Ajit  Kesari  by  E-mail  on  4th  

December, 2010, although, in the affidavit affirmed  

by Shri Kesari it was sought to be stated that the  

same  had  not  been  sent  to  the  official  E-mail  

address of the Director, Food, Government of Madhya  

Pradesh, nor to each Committee Member and was sent  

to  his  personal  E-mail  address  for  information  

only.  Mr. Salve urged that whether it was sent to  

the  Director’s  official  E-mail  address  or  his  

personal E-mail address, the fact remains that Shri  

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Ajit Kesari had knowledge that the Appellant was in  

possession  of  a  valid  and  active  ISO  9001:2000  

certificate at the time of submission of the Bid  

documents.

  14. Mr. Salve also referred to the reply of Wipro  

Ltd. to the writ petition filed by the Appellant  

and pointed out that the manner and circumstances  

in  which  Shri  Naveen  Prakash  had  obtained  the  

information that the Appellant Company held a valid  

ISO  9001:2000  certificate  had  been  spelt  out  in  

Paragraph  5  of  the  said  reply,  which  duly  

corroborated the fact that the same information had  

been passed on to Shri Kesari.

15. In support of his aforesaid submissions, Mr.  

Salve firstly referred to the decision of a Three-

Judge  Bench  of  this  Court  in  Tata  Cellular Vs.  

Union of India [(1994) 6 SCC 651], which laid down  

certain tests in regard to the right of the Courts  

to  intervene  in  a  Tender  process.   This  Court,  

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inter  alia,  held  that  while  the  Court  does  not  

normally interfere with the Government’s freedom of  

contract, invitation of Tender and refusal of any  

Tender which pertain to policy matters, when such a  

decision or action is vitiated by arbitrariness,  

unfairness, illegality or irrationality, then such  

decision can be looked into by the Court since the  

test was as to whether the wrong was of such a  

nature as to require intervention.  In this regard,  

the Court laid down the areas of scope of judicial  

review in paragraph 69 of the judgment.  For the  

sake  of  convenience,  paragraph  69  of  the  said  

judgment is extracted hereinbelow :

“69.  A  tender  is  an  offer.  It  is  something  which  invites  and  is  communicated  to  notify  acceptance.  Broadly stated, the following are the  requisites of a valid tender :

1. It must be unconditional. 2. Must  be  made  at  the  proper  

place.

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3. Must conform to the terms of  obligation.

4. Must  be  made  at  the  proper  time.

5. Must  be  made  in  the  proper  form.

6. The person by whom the tender  is  made  must  be  able  and  willing  to  perform  his  obligations.

7. There  must  be  reasonable  opportunity for inspection.

8. Tender  must  be  made  to  the  proper person.

9. It must be of full amount.”

16. Mr.  Salve  urged  that  the  Bid  documents  

submitted  by  the  Appellant  fully  satisfy  the  

aforesaid  tests  and  the  rejection  of  the  

Appellant’s  bid  was  unlawful  and  cannot  be  

sustained.  

17. In this regard Mr. Salve also referred to the  

decision of this Court in  New Horizons Limited &  

Anr. Vs. Union of India & Ors. [(1995) 1 SCC 478],  

which set out the circumstances in which the Court  

could lift the veil to ascertain the true nature of  

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a decision which had been taken in order to satisfy  

itself that the same was not unjust and was not  

opposed to the interest of revenue.   

Reference was also made to the decision of this  

Court  in  Reliance  Energy  Ltd.  &  Anr. Vs.  

Maharashtra State Road Development Corpn. Ltd. &  

Ors. [(2007)  8  SCC  1],  which  was  essentially  a  

decision  in  regard  to  the  right  of  every  

participant to a level playing field in respect of  

Government  contracts  and  the  extent  of  judicial  

review by the Court under Articles 32, 226 and 136  

of  the  Constitution,  in  cases  of  illegality,  

irrationality,  procedural  impropriety  and  

Wednesbury unreasonableness.     

18. Mr.  Salve  urged  that  the  rejection  of  the  

Appellant’s Technical Bid for the reasons mentioned  

above,  was  not  supported  by  the  terms  and  

conditions  of  the  RFP  and  even  the  amendments  

effect  to  the  Bidder’s  Response  Form  containing  

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Clause 7.1.1 that was changed by the Corrigendum  

issued  on  18th January,  2010,  did  not  alter  the  

position.   He  urged  that  the  judgment  of  the  

Division Bench of the High Court, impugned in this  

Appeal, was liable to be quashed.         

19. Appearing for the State of Madhya Pradesh, the  

learned Attorney General submitted that primarily  

four  issues  fall  for  the  determination  in  the  

present case, namely,  

(i) What is the relevance of Section 7 of  

the  Request  For  Proposal  as  far  as  

this Court case is concerned?  

(ii) Does this case involve a mere mistake  

and is such a mistake fatal as far as  

the  Appellant’s  bid  documents  are  

concerned?  

(iii) What is the significance of Shri Navin  

Prakash’s  attempts  to  obtain  

clarification about the Appellant having  

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a valid ISO 9001 Certificate on the date  

of submission of bid documents? and

(iv) Even  assuming  that  the  Appellant  

possessed  a  valid  ISO  9001  

Certification,  was  the  same  produced  

before the Respondents?  

Referring to Clause 3.1 of the RFP relating to  

Pre-qualification  (Eligibility  Criteria),  the  

learned Attorney General submitted that both the  

CMM Certificate and the ISO 9001:2000 Certificate  

were  listed  as  documents  to  be  submitted  as  

qualifying documents and that the criteria set out  

in the said form would have to be read accordingly.  

In  any  event,  the  Bidder’s  Check  List  was  

completely  changed  by  the  Corrigendum  which  was  

subsequently issued.  

20. The learned Attorney General submitted that the  

provisions  of  the  RFP  which  had  been  initially  

provided were subsequently altered which had the  

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effect of replacing the provisions relating to Pre-

qualification  (Criteria  Eligibility)  contained  in  

Section 3 of the Request For Proposal and Section  

7.1  containing  the  proforma  of  the  Bidder’s  

Response  Form.   The  learned  Attorney  General  

submitted that the Appellant could not, therefore,  

rely  any  longer  on  the  terms  and  conditions  

indicated  in  the  un-amended  RFP  since  the  

provisions of Sections 3 and 7 stood substituted by  

the subsequent Corrigendum.  In this regard, the  

learned Attorney General referred to the unamended  

provisions of Section 7.1 comprising the Bidder’s  

Response Form wherein in paragraph 9, it has been  

indicated as follows :-

“9.  Qualify  Certification  –  The  Company/one of the partners of Consortium  (in  case  of  Consortium)  should  have  an  active ISO 9001:2000 certification at the  time of submission of the bid.  A copy of  the  Quality  Certificate  or  documentation  of the Quality Policy needs to be provided  along with the bid document.  In case the  certificate is due for renewal, the bidder  should ensure that the renewed certificate  

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is made available at the time of signing  of  contract.   In  case  the  same  is  not  provided,  the  Department  may  consider  negotiating the award of contract with the  L2 bidder.”

The aforesaid paragraph indicates that a copy  

of  the  Quality  Certificate/document  of  quality  

policy would have to be submitted along with the  

bid documents, with the relaxation that in case the  

quality certificate was due for renewal, the bidder  

should ensure that the renewed certificate was made  

available at the time of signing of the contract.  

The  learned  Attorney  General  submitted  that  

although a good deal of reliance had been placed by  

Mr.  Salve  on  the  said  provisions,  the  same  was  

altered  by  the  first  corrigendum,  which  in  

paragraph  8  of  the  Bidder  Information  Sheet  

indicates as follows :-

“8. Bidder  should  have  active  ISO  9001:2000  Certification  at  the  time  of  submission  of  Bids.   Copies  of  the  certificates or briefs on Quality policy &  System being followed to be provided.

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In  case  the  certificate  is  due  for  renewal, the bidder should ensure that the  renewed certificate is made available at  the time of signing the contract.  In case  the same is not provided, the Department  may  consider  negotiating  the  award  of  contract with the L2 Bidder.”  

  

21. The  learned  Attorney  General  then  contended  

that  even  the  said  provision  was  replaced  by  a  

fresh corrigendum, wherein in paragraph 3 of the  

provision relating to “Turnover” it was differently  

provided as follows:-

“3. The  Bidder/one  partner  in  the  consortium  must  possess  a  valid  Certification  in  the  Capability  Maturity  Model (CMM Level 3 or above).  In case of  consortium,  the  partner  developing  the  Software Application should have CMM Level  3 Certification.  The Bidder/Lead Partners  of  consortium  (in  case  of  Consortium)  should have an active (valid at least till  June 2010) ISO 9001:2000 certification at  the time of submission of the bid.”  

22. The learned Attorney General urged that once  

the provisions relating to the Bidder’s Response  

Form contained in Section 7.1 stood substituted by  

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the  Corrigendum  and  the  provision  relating  to  

Quality  Certification  stood  altered  omitting  the  

relaxation given regarding filing of documents with  

the tender papers, it was no longer open to the  

Appellants to rely on the unamended Form.   

23. The  learned  Attorney  General  also  submitted  

that  Shri  Navin  Prakash  had  collected  the  

information regarding the ISO 9001 Certification of  

the Appellant Company on his private initiative and  

not under the instructions of the Tender Advisory  

Committee.  Furthermore, the said information was  

not divulged by him at the meeting which was held  

at  2.15  p.m.  on  the  same  day  when  the  said  

information  was  received.   Referring  to  the  

Disqualification  Clause  contained  in  paragraph  

4.11.6  in  the  Request  For  Proposal,  the  learned  

Attorney General pointed out that the proposal of  

the bidder was liable to be disqualified if, inter  

alia, the bid received from him was in incomplete  

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form or not accompanied by the bid security amount  

or by all requisite documents.  He also referred to  

paragraph  5.2  under  Section  5  which  deals  with  

proposal evaluation and lays special emphasis on  

the provisions under technical evaluation which set  

out that the said bid would be rejected if it did  

not  meet  the  pre-qualification  criteria.   The  

learned Attorney General submitted that there was  

no provision at the time of technical evaluation  

for relaxation of the pre-qualification criteria.   

24. In  support  of  his  aforesaid  submission,  the  

learned Attorney General firstly referred to the  

decision of a Three-Judge bench of this Court in  

Siemens Public Communication Network Pvt. Ltd. vs.  

Union of India & Ors. [(2008) 16 SCC 215], wherein  

while considering the decision making process of  

the Government or its instrumentality in awarding  

contracts,  it  was  held  that  such  process  should  

exclude the remotest possibility of discrimination,  

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arbitrariness and favouritism and the same should  

be  transparent,  fair,  bona  fide  and  in  public  

interest.  It was also held that it is not possible  

to re-write entries in bid documents and read into  

the bid documents terms that did not exist therein.  

25. Reference was also made to another decision of  

this Court in Ram Gajadhar Nishad vs. State of U.P.  

[(1990) 2 SCC 486], wherein it was held that the  

effect of non-compliance of a mandatory condition  

in a Tender notice was fatal and the fact that the  

Appellant’s Tender was not opened, accordingly, did  

not call for interference under Article 136 of the  

Constitution.   

26. The learned Attorney General lastly referred to  

the decision in  Sorath Builders vs.  Shreejikrupa  

Buildcon  Ltd.  &  Anr. [(2009)  11  SCC  9],  where  

similar views had been expressed in relation to the  

acceptance of the lowest bid by the Respondent No.2  

University, despite the fact that such bidder had  

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failed  to  furnish  pre-qualification  documents  

within the specified time.  This Court held that  

the judgment of the High Court setting aside the  

decision of the University was improper as the said  

tenderer was itself to blame as it was late in  

submitting the required documents by three days and  

the Respondent No.2 University was justified in not  

opening the tender submitted by it.  This Court  

observed that the lowest tenderer could not make  

any  grievance  as  the  lapse  was  due  to  his  own  

fault.   This  Court  noticed  that  of  the  three  

bidders who had responded to the tender notice, one  

stood disqualified at the threshold and the lowest  

tenderer stood disqualified for having filed the  

requisite documents three days late.  In effect,  

the Appellant in the said case ultimately turned  

out to be sole bidder and his bid was accepted,  

being the lowest among all the eligible bids.   

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27. Referring to the decision in the Tata Cellular  

case  (supra),  cited  on  behalf  of  the  Appellant  

Company, the learned Attorney General pointed out  

that the said case was not a case of omission, but  

of  breach  of  the  mandatory  condition  of  filing  

certain documents which were required to be filed.  

28. The learned Attorney General submitted that the  

order of the High Court impugned in the present  

appeal  did  not  suffer  from  any  infirmity  which  

required any interference by this Court.   

29. The submissions made by the learned Attorney  

General  were  reiterated  by  Mr.  Paras  Kuhad,  

appearing  for  the  Respondent  No.4,  HCL  

Construction  Ltd,  which  was  impleaded  as  a  

Respondent by this Court on 3rd August, 2010.  

Mr. Kuhad submitted that having regard to the  

fact  that  a  Corrigendum  had  been  issued  by  

which the provisions of paragraphs 3.1 and 7.1  

had  been  completely  substituted,  it  was  no  

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longer open to the Appellant to place reliance  

on the same since the said provisions no longer  

existed.   Mr.  Kuhad  contended  that  the  

submissions  made  on  behalf  of  the  Appellant  

Company with regard to the conditions in the  

Bidder’s Response Form and the Bidder’s Check  

List,  as  it  stood  prior  to  the  Corrigendum  

having been issued, was devoid of substance and  

the same had been made only to be rejected.  

30. Mr. Kuhad pointed out that once the work had  

been entrusted to the Respondent No.4, it had taken  

various  steps  in  establishing  the  District  

Mechanism for Public Distribution System in Madhya  

Pradesh.  It was urged that in that regard steps  

had been taken for Data Digitization Application  

Development,  Preparation  of  Pre-Enrolment  Data,  

Training  and  Certification  of  Operators,  

Establishment  of  Enrolment  Camps,  Biometric  

Enrolment of Beneficiaries, Data Transfer to UID,  

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Generation of Aadhaar/UID Number and Mapping of EID  

number  to  UID  number.  Mr.  Kuhad  urged  that  the  

steps which were yet to be completed related to the  

loading  of  the  data  to  the  server  and  for  

preparation of the Ration Cards and for issuance of  

the  same  and  also  Food  Coupons  printing  and  

distribution  and  retrieval  thereof.  It  was  

submitted that at this advanced stage, it would be  

highly  inequitable  if  the  public  distribution  

supply  project  in  Madhya  Pradesh  was  interfered  

with.  

31. Replying to the submissions made on behalf of  

the Respondents, Mr. Shyam Divan, learned Senior  

Advocate,  urged  that  the  Corrigendum  which  was  

issued by the Respondents was not a replacement, as  

had  been  contended  both  by  the  learned  Attorney  

General as well as Mr. Kuhad, but an addition to  

what was already in existence.  Mr. Shyam Divan  

reiterated the submissions made by Mr. Salve that  

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the  clause  relating  to  filing  of  certificate  of  

registration even at the stage of signing of the  

agreement  was  valid  and  capable  of  being  acted  

upon.  Mr. Divan contended that the only change  

which was effected by the Corrigendum in regard to  

the Bidder’s response clearly indicated that the  

Corrigendum  related  only  to  the  introduction  of  

Lead Partners in case of Consortium and that in  

case of a Consortium, the partner developing the  

software  application  should  have  CMM  Level  3  

Certification.  It was submitted that in any event,  

in the absence of clarity, the benefit should go to  

the Appellant and its bid ought not to have been  

rejected at the Technical bid stage.  

32. Having  considered  the  submissions  made  on  

behalf of the respective parties, we are inclined  

to  accept  the  submissions  made  by  the  Attorney  

General that the introduction of the Corrigendum  

completely changed the provision in the Bidder’s  

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Response Form relating to submission of the Quality  

Certificate in the form of an active ISO 9001:2000  

certification.  In  any  event,  the  appellant’s  

contention based on clause 9 of Section 7.1.1 of  

the  RFP  as  it  stood  prior  to  corrigendum  is  

misconceived.  The  said  clause  9  specifically  

provided:

“…..A  copy  of  the  Quality  certificate  or  documentation of the Quality policy needs to be  provided along with the bid document.  In case  the certificate is due for renewal, the bidder  should ensure that the renewed certificate is  made  available  at  the  time  of  signing  of  contract.  In case the same is not provided,  the  Department  may  consider  negotiating  the  award of contract with the L2 bidder.”

The above provision obliges a tenderer to produce  

along with the bid document a copy of the Quality  

certificate which is valid and active on the date  

of submission of the bid and it does not enable a  

bidder  to  withhold  the  copy  of  such  Quality  

Certificate.  Where the Quality certificate will be  

expiring shortly and is due for renewal, the bidder  

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is also obliged to produce the renewed certificate  

at  the  time  of  signing  of  the  contract.  The  

appellant claimed to have a valid and active ISO  

9001:2000 certificate at the time  of submission of  

the bid, but did not produce a copy of the said  

certificate along with the bid document.   

33. The submissions made on behalf of the Appellant  

proceeds on the basis that it was entitled, almost  

as a matter of right, not to submit the documents  

required  to  be  submitted  along  with  the  bid  

documents  on  the  supposition  that,  even  if  such  

documents  were  valid  and  active,  they  could  be  

submitted at the time of signing of the Memorandum  

of Understanding.  The Appellant had a valid and  

active ISO 9001:2000 certification which it did not  

submit along with the Bid documents, may be due to  

inadvertence, but whether such explanation was to  

be  accepted  or  not  lay  within  the  discretionary  

powers of the authority inviting the bids.  The  

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decision taken to reject the Technical Bid of the  

Appellant  cannot  be  said  to  be  perverse  or  

arbitrary.   We  need  not  refer  to  the  decisions  

cited  by  the  learned  Attorney  General  or  the  

Appellant  in  this  regard,  as  the  principles  

enunciated therein are well-established.

34. Even the question as to whether Shri Naveen  

Prakash  of  the  consultant  agency  had  obtained  

information  that  the  Appellant  had  a  valid  and  

active ISO 9001:2000 certification and had passed  

on such information to Shri Kesari, does not make  

any difference, since the same was never asked for  

or  placed  before  the  Tender  Advisory  Committee  

constituted  for  the  purpose  of  scrutinizing  the  

Bids despite the presence of Shri Naveen Prakash at  

the meeting of the Advisory Committee at  2.15 p.m.  

on the same day.

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35. We are not, therefore, inclined to entertain  

the  appeal,  which  is  dismissed,  but  without  any  

order as to costs.  

…………………………………………J. (ALTAMAS KABIR)

…………………………………………J. (CYRIAC JOSEPH)

New Delhi Dated: 4.4.2011

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