Bombay High Court
B G Shirke Construction Technology Pvt ... vs The Commissioner Municipal ... on 3 December, 2021
Author: Madhav J. Jamdar
Bench: G.S. Patel, Madhav J. Jamdar
901 ASWPST 22936-21.DOC
Priya
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
WRIT PETITION (ST) NO. 22936 OF 2021
PRIYA
RAJESH
SOPARKAR
Digitally signed by
PRIYA RAJESH BG Shirke Construction Technology Private ...Petitioner
SOPARKAR
Date: 2021.12.04
15:45:36 +0530
Limited
Versus
The Commissioner, MCGM and Anr ...Respondents
Mr Vineet Naik, Senior Advocate i/b Mr Sukand Kulkarni, for the
Petitioner.
Mr SU Kamdar, Senior Advocate with Ms Madhavi Tavanandi, Ms
Trupti Purohit, Mr Om Suryavanshi, Mr Santosh Parad and Mr
Sunil Sonawane, for the Respondents.
Mr PB Waghmare, Assistant Engineer (Civil) AYC present.
Mr Dennis Fernandes, Assistant Manager, IT Department present.
Mr Prashant Pagar, ABM Knowledgeware Limited present.
Mr Nilesh A Gangurde, Junior System Analyst, IT Department
present.
CORAM G.S. Patel &
Madhav J. Jamdar, JJ.
DATED: 3rd December 2021
PC:-
1. On telephonic instructions obtained after the matter was called, Mr Naik learned senior counsel for the Petitioner, seeks leave to unconditionally withdraw the Writ Petition.
2. The Petition is dismissed as unconditionally withdrawn.
Page 1 of 33rd December 2021 901 ASWPST 22936-21.DOC
3. While accepting the request and granting leave, we believe it is necessary to make one observation in regard to what is stated by the MCGM on affidavit, the matter related to an e-tender. The complaint of the Petitioner, as is usual in such cases, was that the MCGM server or site to which the tender documents were to be uploaded was not functioning. Since the matter is withdrawn, we do not need to address the merits of that assertion. However, in the Affidavit in Reply at page 44, it has come on record that in response to the Petitioner's calls to the MCGM helpline number, MCGM's technical support consultant, one ABM Knowledgeware Limited, extended support and help to the Petitioner, a prospective tenderer. The specific averment is that ABM Knowledgeware remotely took over the Petitioner's computer and commenced uploading the Petitioner's documents. After some time, the MCGM consultant returned access to the Petitioner.
4. We must caution the MCGM from continuing any such practice. Indeed, we deprecate it. The MCGM consultant is to render support to the MCGM. Its role is not to assist tenderers on an individual basis. If it does so, there is a very significant risk of an untoward incident and of all kinds of allegations being levelled against the consultant and therefore also against the MCGM. Somebody will accuse the MCGM or its consultant from sabotaging the tendering process or injecting some malicious code, etc. The MCGM's consultant should under no circumstances step into the tendering process. Its role is only to render support to the MCGM itself. At the highest, the helpline number may be used as a 'fault reporting service', but nothing further, though we do not see why even that is necessary. We are informed that all MCGM web Page 2 of 3 3rd December 2021 901 ASWPST 22936-21.DOC services are now entirely cloud-based, on a PaaS or Platform-As-A- Service running on Amazon Web Services or AWS with software from SAP SE, one of the world's largest software companies. The role of MCGM's technical consultant is to monitor the functionality of the MCGM site. If there is any downtime, MCGM will surely be alerted immediately and a message flashed to all tenderers. We see no situation in which MCGM's technical consultant can go out of its way to provide such hand-holding assistance to one particular tenderer.
5. We request MCGM officers at the highest level to ensure that in all its public tenders, the MCGM's technical consultants and support staff do not take over access to any individual tenderer's computer or render individual assistance to any tenderer in submitting a bid. Above all, the integrity of tendering process should never be compromised under any circumstances.
6. We dispose of the petition with these observations. Our thanks to Mr Naik, Mr Kamdar and Ms Tavanandi for their assistance.
7. All concerned will act on production of a digitally signed copy of this order.
(Madhav J. Jamdar, J) (G. S. Patel, J)
Page 3 of 3
3rd December 2021