Gauhati High Court
Megha Engineering And Infrastructures ... vs Oil India Ltd on 10 January, 2020
Author: Prasanta Kumar Deka
Bench: Prasanta Kumar Deka
Page No.# 1/4
GAHC010304972019
THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT
(HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH)
Case No. : WP(C) 9193/2019
1:MEGHA ENGINEERING AND INFRASTRUCTURES LTD.
S-2, TECHNOCRAT INDUSTRIAL ESTATE, BALANAGAR, HYDERABAD-
500037. REP. BY MR. P. DORAIAH, S/O- SH. P. BAPANNA, (AGED ABOUT 60
YEARS), R/O- G-106, KEERTHI APARTMENTS, YELLAREDDYGUDA,
HYDERABAD.
VERSUS
1:OIL INDIA LTD.
REP. BY THE GENERAL MANAGER (PROJECTS- C AND P), PROJECTS
DEPTT., DULIAJAN, ASSAM, INDIA, PIN- 786602.
Advocate for the Petitioner : DR. ASHOK SARAF
Advocate for the Respondent : SC, OIL
BEFORE
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PRASANTA KUMAR DEKA
ORDER
Date : 10-01-2020 Heard Dr. A. Saraf, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Mr. A. Goyal and Mr. P. Buttan, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. S. N. Sarma, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Ms. S. Ghosh learned counsel for the respondent, OIL. Vide order dated 6.1.2020 this court was satisfied to order for taking necessary instruction from the respondent Oil India Limited as to whether the technical bid of the present petitioner could be considered at this stage but before opening price bid. Mr. Sarma Page No.# 2/4 learned Senior Counsel was given liberty to request the concerned officials from the OIL to be present in order to give specific reply sought for by this court.
Dr. Saraf, learned Senior Counsel was also given liberty to file opinion supported by an affidavit in respect of the process of encryption/decryption of the bid saved in the portals of the respondents. The petitioner filed opinion supported by an affidavit of Sri Vatrapu Manoj Reddy working as Software Engineer in M/s Ineractive Data Systems Limited Hyderabad opining as reproduced hereinbelow:
" I say that I have seen the email dated 5.1.2020 as filed by the respondent before this Hon'ble court on 6.1.2020 and I say that from the Email it is unambiguously confirmed that files which were uploaded by the Petitioner were successfully uploaded to the Web Portal of the Respondent and are available in the Respondent's database . Though as stated by the Respondent the files are in encrypted format hence they cannot be download though they are visible to them . It is respectfully submitted that this is only a security feature of Respondent's E-portal system in regard of "Bid Security Enhancement" as also stated by the Respondent in their email but it has nothing to do with downloading and encryption and decryption of the documents. It is respectfully submitted that it is well within the purview, power, authority and control of the respondent to give permission to their ERP team or web developer or any other authorised personal or authority to download the documents( as uploaded by the Petitioner ) and once the documents are downloaded the contents of the documents will be visible and readable to/by the respondent. The documents once downloaded by the respondent from their web portal will convert the uploaded filed from encrypted format to the decrypted format, which will then allow the respondents to view and read the contents of the documents so uploaded by the petitioner and available at the web portal of the respondent. I say I have sufficient knowledge on the subject and I say with affirmation that the respondent do not need any further confirmation or permission from the petitioner as the documents once downloaded can be viewed and read. I say that the documents were digitally signed by the authorised representatives of the petitioner which itself shows the authenticity of the documents so uploaded on the web portal."
In response to the said opinion Mr. Sarma, learned Senior Counsel submits another opinion by the Software Engineer/ expert of the respondent which is reproduced hereinbelow:
"SRM(Supplier Relationship Management ) e-tender Process Flow OIL's e-tender portal is a standard SAP product used worldwide built in line with the best practices. OIL has also implemented " Bid Security Enhancement " in the e-tender process to enhance the integrity of the bids and ensure a fair and impartial process.
1.Before publishing a tender, OIL has to pre-define decryptor(OIL's employee) in the system for the tender.
2. The system allows a bidder to upload and save his bid documents in the e-tender portal only when the bidder has a "class-3: Digital Signature certificate & encryption key". When the bid is saved by the bidder, it is encrypted with a key which is a combination of the bidders key + the purchaser's key (pre- define decryptor i.e. OIL). The system allows the bidder to decrypt, modify and upload his responses for Page No.# 3/4 this tender at any time(before or after submission deadline) since it is his own property.
3. Only when the bid is submitted by the bidder in the system, the encryption key is assigned to the pre-defined decryptors to decryt the submitted bid documents using the encryption key. Since the bidder has not SUBMITTED his bid, the encryption key is not assigned to the pre-defined decryptor thus i is not possible for he decryptor to decrypt and download the bids.
If it would have been allowed then this will violate the confidentiality any integrity of the bids thus defeating the entire purpose of the Bid Security Enhancement."
On perusal of the opinion it is difficult for this court to arrive at a decision inasmuch as it is apparent from both the opinions which are contradictory in nature. In order to remove this contradiction, in my considered opinion, expert opinion is required to be obtained from IIT, Guwahati and to that effect Registry to send a letter to the Director IIT, Guwahati . A copy of this order shall also be sent to the Director, IIT , Guwahati.
This court desires to know as to whether it is possible on the part of the OIL to decrypt already encrypted data by the petitioner in the portal of Oil India Limited. If so, which of the opinion aforesaid is acceptable.
In order to give the necessary inputs to the Director, IIT(G) the concerned head of the department, OIL will assign necessary officer/ expert in this field acquainted with the system in existence of OIL. On the other hand, if the petitioner desires to send representative or expert in the field, the same shall have to be authorised by Registrar (Judl.) of this Court and necessary steps shall be taken by the Registrar(Judl.) in this regard. A copy of the communication from the Registry to Director, IIT(G) shall be served on the parties of this writ petition whereafter necessary effective steps shall be taken by the parties with the Director, IIT(G). Registry shall make an endeavour to get back the opinion/report from the Director, IIT(G), on or before 30.1.2020. Expenses if any, shall be borne by the petitioner to this writ Page No.# 4/4 petition.
In the meantime OIL shall go ahead with the tender process and before taking any final decision, the same must be done as per the leave of this court.
List on 3.2.2020.
JUDGE Comparing Assistant