Delhi High Court - Orders
Vivek Pharmachem India Ltd vs Director General Health Services, ... on 11 February, 2021
Author: Vipin Sanghi
Bench: Vipin Sanghi, Rekha Palli
$~17
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ W.P.(C) 1836/2021
VIVEK PHARMACHEM INDIA LTD ..... Petitioner
Through Mr. Tarun Kumar Mishra, Adv.
versus
DIRECTOR GENERAL HEALTH SERVICES, GNCTD
..... Respondent
Through Mr. Ramesh Singh, Standing Counsel
for Govt. of NCT of Delhi with Ms.
Tara Narula, Adv.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIPIN SANGHI
HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE REKHA PALLI
ORDER
% 11.02.2021 CM APPL. 5279/2021 (Exemption) Exemption allowed, subject to all just exceptions. W.P.(C) 1836/2021 & CM APPL. 5278/2021 (stay) The petitioner has preferred the present writ petition to assail the decision of the respondent rejecting its technical bid in respect of Tender Reference No. 20_02, which was an e-tender for supply of medicines by following the two bid system. Under the tender, various medicines and surgical consumables were to be supplied to the hospitals of the respondent. The petition itself discloses that on 06.01.2021, the respondent issued a tentative list of responsive and non-responsive bidders, as per which list, the petitioner's technical bid was found to be disqualified. The said Signature Not Verified Signed By:GARIMA MADAN Location: Signing Date:13.02.2021 18:09:19 disqualification was firstly on the ground that the Chartered Accountant's turnover certificate was not in the prescribed format annexed to the NIT i.e. Annexure-T. The other ground was that the Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) certificate of the petitioner in respect of its plant at J&K, from where 9 items were to be supplied, had already expired. As per the petitioner, in response to the said communication, a representation was submitted by it to the respondent on 08.01.2021. While the petitioner was awaiting a response to the same, the respondent, on 05.02.2021, issued the final list of qualified and disqualified bidders and the petitioner was placed in the list of disqualified bidders. Consequently, the present writ petition has been preferred.
Mr. Ramesh Singh, learned standing counsel for the Govt. of NCT of Delhi, who appears on advance notice, at the outset submits on instructions from Dr. Anshul Mudgal, Medical Officer, I/C Medicine Procurement and Quality Control, CPA, DHS that pursuant to the list of qualified bidders issued on 05.02.2021, the financial bids have also been opened on 10.02.2021. This position is, however, disputed by the learned counsel for the petitioner, who states that the financial bids have still not been opened and have, till date, not been uploaded on the website. On this aspect, we are inclined to accept the submission of Mr. Singh which is premised on definite instructions received from a responsible officer of the respondent who has been dealing with the tender in question. In these circumstances, we are of the view that the present petition is highly belated. If the petitioner was aggrieved, he should have approached this Court well before the opening of the financial bids, especially when he had already been made aware on 06.01.2021 that its technical bid had been disqualified. Once the Signature Not Verified Signed By:GARIMA MADAN Location: Signing Date:13.02.2021 18:09:19 petitioner did not obtain any satisfactory response from the respondent to its representation dated 08.01.2021, it should have approached this Court with promptitude. We are, therefore, not inclined to interfere in the tender process once the financial bids of the technically qualified bidders have already been opened. The petition is dismissed.
VIPIN SANGHI, J REKHA PALLI, J FEBRUARY 11, 2021 acm Signature Not Verified Signed By:GARIMA MADAN Location: Signing Date:13.02.2021 18:09:19