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M/S Shobha Ram Sharma Contractor vs State Of Up on 11 May, 2015

Bench: Dipak Misra, Prafulla C. Pant

  CA 4334/15
                                                              1

                                            IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

                                            CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION


                                           CIVIL APPEAL NO.4334 OF 2015
                                   (Arising out of S.L.P.(C) No.24316 of 2014)


                         M/s. Shobha Ram Sharma Contractor                           Appellant(s)

                                             Versus

                         State of U.P. and Others                                    Respondent(s)



                                                         O R D E R

Heard Ms. Ruchi Kohli, learned counsel for the appellant, Mr. Gaurav Bhatia, learned Additional Advocate General for the State of U.P. and Mr. A.K. Panda, learned senior counsel for the respondent No.2, the National Rural Roads Development Agency.

Leave granted.

The grievance of the appellant pertains to cancellation of tender issued on 17th December, 2012, floated by U.P. Rural Roads Development Agency, on the ground that there was an enquiry and certain irregularities were found against the appellant on the basis of the report submitted by the respondent No.2. The said order was assailed before the High Court in Writ Petition No.6640 (M/B) of 2013. The High Court opined that a bidder cannot insist that the Signature Not Verified authority must accept a particular bid solely on the ground Digitally signed by Chetan Kumar Date: 2015.05.13 16:21:10 IST Reason: that it is the lowest.

During the pendency of this appeal, a tender was floated for the second time and the appellant was permitted CA 4334/15 2 to participate. It is submitted by Mr. Gaurav Bhatia, learned Additional Advocate General that as the bid was non-competitive, the authorities were compelled to cancel the bid.

We have been apprised that a Notice Inviting Tender has been issued for the third time. The last date for applying is 25th May, 2015. As we find, the tenders have been issued by the respondent No.1 and it is being cancelled, in such a situation this Court finds it difficult to interfere. However, Mr. Gaurav Bhatia has submitted that the appellant would be at liberty for participation in the tendering process and whatever irregularities were stated in the enquiry report, being conducted by the respondent No.2, shall not be taken into account while dealing with any offer for bids, except the criteria that are to be applied for the purpose of adjudging the tender. We will be failing on our duty if we do not note that the respondent No.2 has not filed the documents to substantiate whatever it had given to the respondent No.1. Be that as it may, the report submitted by the respondent No.2 shall not be taken into consideration by the respondent No.1.

Before parting with the case, we must state that the authority is engaged for construction of roads and the present tender pertains to the construction of roads in Mathura, U.P. We must say that the respondent No.1 should be guided by the central guidelines and concrete steps must be taken so that the roads are constructed and the public at large do not suffer. By this we do not mean that the State Government has no authority or the respondent No.1 has no authority to cancel the tender. However, an endeavour has to be made to follow the guidelines in proper perspective so that the roads can be constructed.

Needless to emphasize, if there will be any enquiry against any tenderer, the Enquiry Committee shall afford an opportunity to him so that he may know the reason for cancellation of his tender. If the appellant offers its bid for the third tender, which has already been floated, the earnest money that has been deposited on the earlier occasions, shall be adjusted in that regard. In case the appellant does not intend to participate in the tendering process, the amount shall be refunded in entirety to it.

The appeal stands disposed of accordingly. There shall be no order as to costs.

......................J. (Dipak Misra) ......................J. (Prafulla C. Pant) New Delhi;

May 11, 2015.

ITEM NO.204                   COURT NO.5                SECTION XI

                  S U P R E M E C O U R T O F       I N D I A
                          RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (C) No.24316/2014 (Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 21/07/2014 in CWP No. 6640/2013 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad) M/S SHOBHA RAM SHARMA CONTRACTOR Petitioner(s) VERSUS STATE OF UP AND ORS Respondent(s) (For final disposal) Date : 11/05/2015 This petition was called on for hearing today.

CORAM :

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DIPAK MISRA HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PRAFULLA C. PANT For Petitioner(s) Ms. Ruchi Kohli, AOR Mr. Yash Mishra, Adv.

Mr. Shashwat Tripathi, Adv. Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, Adv.

For Respondent(s) Mr. Gaurav Bhatia, AAG Mr. Abhishek Chaudhary, AOR Mr. Dheerendra Yadav, Adv.

Mr. A.K. Panda, Sr. Adv. Mr. S.A. Haseeb, Adv.

Mr. Sanjiv Das, Adv.

Mr. B.V. Balram Das, Adv.

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R Leave granted.

The appeal is disposed of in terms of the signed order.

              (Chetan Kumar)                    (H.S. Parasher)
               Court Master                       Court Master

(Signed order is placed on the file)