UNION OF INDIA Vs HBL NIFE POWER SYSTEMS LTD.
Bench: T.S. THAKUR,R. BANUMATHI
Case number: C.A. No.-003193-003193 / 2006
Diary number: 28075 / 2005
Advocates: ANIL KATIYAR Vs
ANITHA SHENOY
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REPORTABLE
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 3193 OF 2006
UNION OF INDIA & ANR. ..Appellants
Versus
HBL NIFE POWER SYSTEMS LTD. ..Respondent
J U D G M E N T
R. BANUMATHI, J.
This appeal assails the order dated 27.10.2005 passed
by the High Court of Delhi allowing the appeal in LPA No.2448 of
2005 thereby directing the Union of India to issue an advertisement
in leading newspapers having wide circulation inviting tenders for
the submarine batteries mentioning the detailed technical
specifications and the appellants to consider all the products which
meet the technical specifications and thereby proceed to select the
best product in accordance with law.
2. The subject-matter involved in the present case is
submarine batteries required for the Indian Navy. Indian Navy has
three types of submarines for which three different types of
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batteries are used. Type-I battery for EKM submarines, Type-II
battery for SSK class submarines and Type-III battery for Foxtrot
class submarines. Initially, these batteries were imported from the
Original Equipment Manufacturer. In view of the recurring
requirement of the batteries, subsequently a decision was taken to
progress their indigenisation. Director General Quality Assurance
(DGQA) working under the Ministry of Defence has a detailed
procedure to ‘develop/indigenise’ critical items/spares. As per the
said procedure, the Government identifies the possible vendors and
assesses their capacity/technical qualifications and thereafter a
development order is placed on the proposed supplier. During this
period of development of the spares, the Government carries out
regular inspection and the product is developed under the aegis of
officials of the Defence Ministry and officers of the DGQA are
associated throughout the development process right from the time
of sourcing of raw materials to ensure that the product not only
meets the technical qualifications but is fully reliable and free from
any errors in actual performance.
3. By following the above rigorous procedure,
M/s. Standard Batteries Ltd. was developed as an indigenous
manufacturer for supplying Type-III submarine batteries.
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M/s. Standard Batteries Ltd. was subsequently developed as a
manufacturer of Type-I submarine batteries in the year 1988.
M/s. Exide Industries Ltd. was developed as an indigenous
manufacturer of Type-II submarine batteries in 1989. In the year
1998, M/s. Standard Batteries Ltd. sold its business to M/s. Exide
Industries Ltd. Since then, M/s. Exide Industries Ltd. has become
a single vendor in supplying batteries for all three classes of
submarines to the Indian Navy. Officers of DGQA are constantly
associated with the manufacturing of the submarine batteries in
Exide Industries Ltd. as and when they are required by the Indian
Navy. As M/s. Exide Industries Ltd. has become the single vendor,
in 2004, Government started exploring the possibility of developing
another supplier as second source for submarine batteries. But as
per the policy, the Government cannot register anyone for supply of
submarine batteries without following the procedure or putting the
vendor through the process of the development. In any event, the
requirement of the supervision of DGQA in development of the
product and thirteen quality tests intended to test submarine
batteries could never be dispensed with.
4. The respondent made its representation in October
2004 to the Ministry of Defence claiming that it had developed
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submarine batteries and that they are under internal evaluation.
On 31.03.2005, the respondent requested the Ministry of Defence
for a development order so that the respondent can be developed as
the second source of submarine batteries and the respondent
agreed to undergo stringent tests before it could be registered for
supplying the product. As the residual life of the existing batteries
was coming to an end, in July 2005, the Government has been
processing the request by the Navy to purchase submarine
batteries. Since only M/s. Exide Industries Ltd. was then the only
approved supplier of all types of submarine batteries, it was
proposed to issue ‘Request For Proposal’ (RFP) to M/s. Exide
Industries Ltd. alone and the Defence Minister gave approval to
issue RFP to M/s. Exide Industries Ltd. for supplying eleven sets of
submarine batteries.
5. Respondent filed writ petition before the Delhi High
Court on 17.09.2005 claiming that it should be issued a request for
proposal as well, as it was registered for some other products
namely torpedo batteries. Be it noted that the submarine batteries
claimed to have been developed by the respondent were neither
developed under the aegis of the DGQA nor the Government paid
for development of the prototype cells. The learned Single Judge
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vide order dated 05.10.2005 dismissed the writ petition observing
that if the extant policy envisages selection or shortlisting of a party
for purposes of raising a development indent for an alternative
indigenous source of equipment, this stage must be successfully
crossed before venturing further into the issuance of request for
proposal and thereafter issuance of a PAC. The learned Single
Judge further held that procurement method was a policy matter
and the policy did not suffer from any illegality and in any event,
the policy has not been challenged by the respondent in the writ
petition. Aggrieved by dismissal of the writ petition, the respondent
filed LPA No.2448/2005 which was allowed vide the impugned
judgment dated 27.10.2005 and the High Court issued directions
to the Ministry of Defence to procure even the critical spare parts
like submarine batteries only after issuing advertisement and
calling for open tender. Assailing the impugned judgment, the
appellant-Union of India has preferred this appeal.
6. Ms. Pinky Anand, learned Additional Solicitor General
of India alongwith Mr. Qadri appearing for the appellants
contended that while tender is issued for common use items,
purchase of specialized and critical spare parts for the Defence
Ministry cannot be done by an open tender and in the instant case,
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there were justifiable reasons for the Government to classify
submarine batteries as critical and specialized defence product and
to procure the same only from those suppliers who have developed
the submarine batteries under the aegis of DGQA and are duly
approved/registered with DGQA. It was submitted that in relation
to essential defence supplies/critical spare parts, the Government
must ensure that the supplier has the necessary technical
qualifications, infrastructure and capacity to develop the product
and in critical spare parts like submarine batteries, the
Government cannot put the life of its defence personnel and
submarine worth several crores of rupees to risk simply because
the respondent claims to have the capability. It was submitted that
the High Court was not right in directing the Government for
issuing tenders for critical spare parts like submarine batteries
without knowing whether the said product can withstand all the
thirteen quality tests and render reliable performance on board.
7. Per contra, learned counsel for the respondent
submitted that the respondent for the first time vide its letter dated
06.10.1999 had shown its intention to develop the submarine
batteries and requested the appellant to provide the specifications
of the same and in response to the same, appellants vide letter
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dated 22.11.1999 duly provided the technical specifications and on
the basis of the same, respondent had developed prototype cells of
the said batteries for testing which were offered to the appellants
for evaluation way back in March 2004 and despite such offering,
the appellants did not carry out any test. Contention of the
respondent is that they continued to invest huge sums for
developing prototype cells of submarine batteries under legitimate
expectation that the respondent would be considered as an
alternative source for supplying submarine batteries. Further
contention of the respondent is that the goods purchased without
any tender on proprietary basis only from one source is a flagrant
violation of the constitutional mandate of Article 14 and by
directing to issue an advertisement, the High Court rightly held
against the monopoly of single source for supply of submarine
batteries.
8. We have carefully considered the rival contentions
advanced by the parties and perused the details of the procedure
for development of submarine batteries and various tests required
to be conducted on the submarine batteries and other material on
record.
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9. The defence procurement can be classified into two
broad heads:-
(i) First category are common use items of generic or commercial specifications and these are available in open market. For example car batteries, spare of various vehicles etc. These items are procured by the Ministry of Defence by Open Tender Enquiry (OTE) i.e. by advertisements in the press and website.
(ii) Second category are those materials which do not fall within the above ‘common use’ category. These spares are ‘mission critical’ strategic defence products, which are procured only from those firms which are registered with Director General of Quality Assurance (DGQA) which functions under the Ministry of Defence. The supplier has to be registered with DGQA for the supply of that specific product.
Defence Ministry/DGQA has a very stringent procedure before any
vendor is registered with DGQA for supplying the product. In the
second category, though the product is manufactured by a private
supplier, it is not as if the Government is totally disassociated from
the production process of the product. As is seen from the
Standing Orders of the DGQA (Annexure P-1), prior to grant of
registration, the Government pays the vendor to ‘develop’ the
product under its supervision for over a period of time. Officials of
the DGQA are posted at the factory of the supplier to ensure that
the goods so produced are absolutely in order. The inspectors of
DGQA inspect every stage of production right from the sourcing of
the raw materials by the vendor as it is quite possible that the
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vendor may purchase inferior quality material which may be
difficult to detect in the final product. Development of the second
source would require upto a maximum of three years, as the
development process involves drawing up of detailed technical
specifications and performance criteria based on which the firm
has to prepare a detailed design for each and every component to
meet the stringent military standards.
10. The subject-matter of the present case is submarine
batteries. The importance of submarine batteries to a submarine
cannot be underestimated as it is strategically a vital equipment for
submarines. Submarines or diesel electrical vessels run on battery
power. Power to the submarine is provided by about 240 to 528
batteries, weighing about 800 kgs each, depending on the nature of
submarine. The only source of power to a submarine when it dives
beyond nine metres into sea/ocean is submarine batteries.
Improvement in battery technology and capacity is always an
important goal in submarine design. Batteries are unique source of
electric energy in underwater navigation. When a submarine is
under surface, all its equipments are powered from the batteries,
electric machines, lights, internal communication etc. which means
that right from the first stage, the submarine batteries are vital for
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operating submarine. Survival of submarine depends on its radio
noise levels which are directly related to the efficient functioning of
onboard equipment and machinery especially when the batteries
which is the only source of power and energy. If the batteries fail,
submarine will be without power and it can have catastrophic
consequences on men as also submarine would be lost. DGQA
therefore ensures that it is associated during the production of the
batteries by the approved vendor and only those batteries which
pass the thirteen tests are purchased by the Navy. In case of
submarine batteries, before a particular vendor is approved for
supply of submarine batteries, as per the policy, first the
government issues development indent to the lowest bidder and the
Government pays the proposed vendor to develop the product and
the product is developed by the vendor under the supervision of the
DGQA officials. Product so developed under the supervision of
DGQA has to undergo thirteen tests as stipulated in Annexure P-2.
Ministry of Defence/Navy authorities cannot accept the final
product without being fully associated with the development of the
product right from the stage of procurement of raw material to the
stage of final product. As per the policy, RFP could be issued only
to a firm which is duly registered with DGQA for supply of the
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product after development of the product under the aegis of DGQA.
Having regard to the requirements of a highly critical spare part
like submarine batteries, the Government has framed the policy for
issuance of the development indent, developing the source and
registration with DGQA. It is pertinent to note that in the writ
petition, policy itself was not under challenge. In fact, in the writ
petition, respondent-company itself prayed only for issuance of
request for proposal under the policy. The High Court did not keep
in view the policy of the Government and the mandatory
requirement of DGQA being associated with the development of
submarine batteries which is a critical defence spare part.
11. If the country wishes to play a substantial role in the
Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea, India must ensure high standards
of defence power comparing with the neighbouring countries and it
should have modernized submarines. Modernized submarines
require submarine batteries with high sophisticated standard
under the aegis of DGQA. The Government cannot put the life of
its defence personnel and submarine worth crores of rupees to risk
simply because the respondent claims to have the capability and
can supply submarine batteries. For such defence critical spare
parts like submarine batteries, there cannot be any open
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advertisement inviting tenders. Advertisements are issued calling
for tenders only for common use items which are normally available
in the open market with a wide range of sources. Submarine
batteries do not fall under this category of common use items. The
respondent cannot claim any vested right to be issued a
development indent or RFP or a supply order simply because it has
made investments to manufacture submarine batteries.
Straightway RFP cannot be issued to the respondent by ignoring
the procedure for issuing a development indent and testing the
batteries.
12. As the matter was pending for over a decade, we have
asked the appellant-Union of India about the subsequent
development of the second source for supply of submarine batteries
and for the status of the respondent. In response, on instruction
Mr. S.W.A. Qadri, onbehalf of the appellant has filed elaborate
written submission. It is stated that after grant of stay order dated
16.12.2005 by this Court against the impugned order, the
appellant initiated a case for development of an alternate vendor for
submarine batteries seeking development indents from IHQ
(N)/DEE as per directives of Ministry of Defence vide ID
No.3536/04/D(N-I) dated 08.02.2005. Accordingly, open tender
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was issued in newspapers on 29.05.2006 wherein several firms
including the respondent responded. For development of a second
source of Type-I batteries, development order was placed on the
respondent HBL Ltd. on 22.03.2007, as per which the firm was to
develop four Type-I cells at a cost of Rs.11.16 lakhs with a delivery
schedule of eighteen months. The prototype batteries manufactured
by respondent-HBL failed to meet DGQA’s stipulated standard for
relevant discharge (C2) test. Thereafter, on 12.07.2011, a meeting
was held with the participants of DEE and M/s. HBL
representatives. Post detailed deliberation, the respondent was
asked to manufacture four cells afresh and present them for type
testing. Test of batteries was completed at the factory premises in
June 2012 and batteries were transferred to BCF, Sewri in January
2013. However, on receipt at BCF, Sewri, visible bulging was
observed in all batteries and lead tape discontinuity in one battery
during first maintenance charge. During analysis in February
2013, bulging was found to exceed permissible limit of 12 mm on
all batteries post first full charge. However, respondent opined that
the bulging was due to improper packaging whilst transporting
batteries from the premises (Hyderabad) to Mumbai. Thereafter,
respondent firm–HBL agreed on certain conditions for
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manufacturing of four new prototype cells with a lead time of three-
six months and agreed to complete manufacturing of test cells by
February 2014. However, there was delay on the part of the
respondent and finally the trial of test cells was completed on
14.11.2014 and the trials were validated by CQAE, Secunderabad.
Test cells were received at BCF, Sewri in January 2015.
Charging/discharging trials commenced wherein charging
parameters were examined and found to be satisfactory. In this
regard, in the written submission filed by UOI, it is stated as
under:-
“8. …The performance report forwarded by ASD (Mbi)/BCF wherein all parameters of the cells were examined, indicates satisfactory test results. In view of the satisfactory completion of indigenization efforts by respondent herein (M/s. HBL, Hyderabad) the firm was nominated as IHQ MOD (N) approved vendor for supply of Type-I submarine batteries for EKM submarines on 28.05.2015
9. ..the next procurement case shall have an additional qualified vendor for Type-I submarine batteries to increase the market competence for both technical and financial aspects.”
Though the subsequent developments may not be relevant to
determine the issue, we have referred to the written submission in
extenso for the sake of completion.
13. The aforesaid discussion and also the written
submission as to how the respondent developed the batteries over a 14
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period of time reiterate that the development of second source
could only be as per the guidelines of DGQA and under the
supervision and inspection of the officials of the DGQA and not
independently. The High Court did not keep in view the policy of
the Government in purchasing the critical spare parts for the
defence and in particular, in developing submarine batteries under
the aegis of the Defence Ministry and the High Court erred in
directing the appellants to issue an advertisement giving details
about the technical specifications for submarine batteries and in
selecting the product submitted in response to the advertisement
and the impugned order is not sustainable.
14. The impugned order of the High Court is set aside and
this appeal is allowed. In the facts and circumstances of the case,
we make no order as to costs.
..…………………….CJI. (T.S. THAKUR)
..……………………….J. (R. BANUMATHI)
New Delhi; January 20, 2016
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