GUWAHATI, India, Sept. 17 -- Gauhati High Court issued the following order on Aog. 19:

1. Heard Mr. L. Dihingia, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner and Mr. S. Chakraborty, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the ONGC.

2. By the present writ petition, the petitioner herein has assailed the communication dated 16.01.2024 whereby the contract with the petitioner was terminated; the communication dated 22.08.2024 putting the petitioner on holiday thereby debarring the petitioner from taking part in any ongoing or future contract with the Respondent ONGC as well as seeking further consequential directions.

MATERIAL FACTS:

3. The case of the petitioner herein as would appear from the materials on record is that the Respondent No.2 had issued an Invitation to Bid for hiring of 9 KL Water Tanker Service for Assam Asset for a period of three years through its e-procurement site https://etender.ongc.co.in, under a two-bid system.

4. It is relevant to take note of that in the Invitation to Bid, the period of the sale of the bidding document was mentioned from 12.02.2023 [10:00 hours] to 06.03.2023 [up to 13:59 hours]. The date and time of submission of the bid in the e-portal of ONGC was on or before 14:00 hours [IST] of 06.03.2023. The technical bid was to be opened on 03.06.2023 at 15:00 hours [IST] and the last date for submission of the physical documents was up to 14:00 hours [IST] of 06.03.2023. The said Invitation to Bid contained various parts in the form of Annexure-I, Annexure-II, Annexure-III, Annexure-IV, Annexure-IVA, Annexure-V and Annexure-VI.

5. Annexure-IV to the Invitation to Bid pertained to Bid Evaluation Criteria. In terms with Clause B.1.4, there were three categories of water tankers to be offered. Category-I related to those water tankers owned and registered in the name of the Bidder, i.e. the existing water tanker. Category-II were in relation to those bidders where water tankers were to be purchased new and Category-III were in relation to those bidders where water tankers were under lease agreement from the registered owners.

6. Clause C.7 is a relevant Clause for the purpose of the present proceedings. The said Clause stipulates the conditions when the same rate is received from different bidders. In terms with the said Clause, the ONGC would evaluate and rank the bids on the basis of three criteria for that particular category of water tankers. The criteria were :

(i) The vintage of the offered water tanker, i.e. the latest vintage would be given preference.

(ii) The minimum mobilization time quoted for the offered water tanker. It is further categorically mentioned in respect to this criteria that if the bidder fails to mobilize the water tanker within the quoted mobilization days, the Notification of Award would stand automatically cancelled, and in such cases, the next qualified bidder as per the originally evaluated order of ranking shall be considered for issuing of the Letter of Intent (LoI)/Notification of Award (NOA). This condition incorporated in the second criteria, for the sake of convenience would be referred to as "the second part of Clause C.7.(ii)".

(iii) The experience of the bidder.

Clause C.7 being relevant is reproduced herein under:

"C.7 In case same rate is received from different bidders, ONGC will evaluate and rank the bids on the basis of following criteria for that particular type of water tankers in the following order of preference:

i) Vintage of the offered water tanker. Latest vintage will be given preference.

ii) Minimum Mobilization time quoted for the offered water tanker. However, in case the bidder fails to mobilize the water tankers within the quoted mobilization days, the NOA will stand automatically cancelled. In such case next qualified bidder as per originally evaluated order of ranking shall be considered for issue of LOI/NOA.

iii) Experience of the bidder: Bidder having more length of experience will be given preference over the bidder having less length of experience."

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/ecourtindiaHC/cases/display_pdf.php?filename=bzPoyUlszYLCUcCpirIpqOP%2FX11maSdZM8CU%2BNIvyfZBXxDV3K%2FH4RN3IJ9iDVlY&caseno=WP(C)/4430/2024&cCode=1&cino=GAHC010175152024&state_code=6&appFlag=)

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.