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11. The undisputed facts as discernible from the pleadings and the documents on record and from the submissions made by the learned Counsels for the parties are that the Notice Inviting Tender for the project in question was issued by the Respondent BCCL on 16.08.2023, in response to which, the Appellant and the Respondent No.8 had submitted their respective bid documents. The Appellant Company vide the Board Resolution dated 07.11.2023 had authorised its Director Lalti Devi for the purpose of participating in the tender and a Power Of Attorney dated 07.11.2023 was executed in her favour. The said Power Of Attorney was notarised before the Notary on 14.11.2023. It is also not disputed that the Appellant submitted/uploaded the bid documents on 29.11.2023, that is before the last date of submission, 01.12.2023. It is also not disputed that the Technical bids were opened on 04.12.2023 and the Appellant was declared technically disqualified on 06.05.2024. The extract of Tender Summary Report dated 07.05.2024 stated in the Column ‘Remarks’ that the Appellant ‘Did not comply with Clause No. 10 of NIT (Part I/ Cover I Other Important Documents (OID) Point No. 02 Appendix II (Power of attorney for signing of bid).”

® For a power of attorney executed and issued overseas, the document will also have to be legalised by the Indian Embassy and notarised in the jurisdiction where the power of attorney is being issued. However, the power of attorney provided by Bidders/ Members from countries that have signed the Hague Convention, 1961 are not required to be legalised by the Indian Embassy if it carries a conforming Apostille certificate.
4. Authorization for a) If the Bidder itself is the DSC Digital Signature holder bidding online, then self-

15. From the bare perusal of the afore stated Clause 10, it clearly transpires that the Bidders were required to furnish the information and the scanned copies of the documents relating to qualification criteria particularly to substantiate their Financial capacity. For the purpose of substantiating Financial Capacity, the Bidders were obliged to submit the scanned copies (self-certified and notarised/certified) of the Audited Annual Reports for the last three financial years as chosen by the Bidder, comprising of the audited balance sheets and profit and loss accounts of the Bidder, along with other documents as stated therein. This was the mandatory requirement of the NIT, the same being related to the qualification criteria as also transpiring from Clause 2.2.5 of the RFB.

18. A lame submission was made on behalf of the Respondent BCCL that the Tender Evaluation Committee could call for the shortfall of documents and could not allow replacement of the documents, and that the Respondent no.8 was asked to submit the shortfall documents only. We are neither impressed nor can accept the said submissions. Further, apart from the fact that the Technical bid of the Respondent no.8 deserved to be rejected at the threshold for non-compliance of Clause 10 of NIT, there was also no legal and justifiable reason for rejecting the Technical bid of the Appellant. Admittedly when the tender documents were submitted by the Appellant, the Power Of Attorney authorising the concerned signatory to act on behalf of the Appellant was duly notarised. Merely because the bid documents were signed on 13.11.2023 by the authorized signatory Ms. Lalti Devi on the basis of the Power of Attorney executed in her favour on 07.11.2023, and the said Power Of Attorney was notarised on 14.11.2023, it could not be said that the said representative of the Appellant Company did not possess the requisite authority to submit the documents on the day when the bid documents were submitted, nor could it be said that there was any non-compliance of the mandatory requirement of the Clause 10 of the NIT as sought to be projected by the Respondent BCCL. It was nowhere stated in the NIT that the Power Of Attorney had to be notarised before signing the bid documents. As per Part-1/Cover I of Clause 10 of NIT, pertaining to the other important documents, the only requirement was to furnish the scanned copies of documents (self certified and notarised/certified) to be uploaded by the bidder in support of the information/declaration furnished online by the Bidder against each criteria, and against the criteria for Power Of Attorney, it was stated that it should be as per the format annexed. The Power Of Attorney submitted by the Appellant was as per the format and duly notarised on 14.11.2023, and all the requisite documents along with notarised POA were submitted before the last date fixed for submission.