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3. Under Section - 2, entitled “INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS”, under clause A, entitled “GENERAL”, sub-clause 2.1.4 reads as follows:

“2.1.4 The BID shall be furnished in the format exactly as per Appendix-I i.e. Technical Bid as per Appendix IA and Financial Bid as per Appendix IB. BID amount shall be indicated clearly in both figures and words, in Indian Rupees in prescribed format of Financial Bid and it will be signed by the Bidder's authorised signatory. In the event of any difference between figures and words, the amount indicated in words shall be taken into account.” Clause 2.2.2.2(ii) reads as follows:
(a) at any time, a material misrepresentation is made or uncovered, or…” Under Section - 3, entitled “EVALUATION OF TECHNICAL BIDS AND OPENING & EVALUATION OF FINANCIAL BIDS”, clauses 3.1.6.1 and 3.1.6.2 state as follows:
“3.1.6. Tests of responsiveness 3.1.6.1 As a first step towards evaluation of Technical BIDs, the Authority shall determine whether each Technical BID is responsive to the requirements of this RFP. Technical BID shall be considered responsive only if:

5. On the opening of the financial bids, it was found that UPSBC had bid for a sum of Rs. 306.27 crores and Rajkamal had bid for Rs. 315.80 crores. Being disqualified, Rachana Construction Co.’s bid for Rs. 293.25 crores was not under consideration.

6. By the impugned judgment dated 15.06.2020 in Writ Petition No. 6681 of 2020 filed by UPSBC, it was held that as on the date of submission of the technical bid, since no investigation was pending within the meaning of clause 7(b) of Annex I, there was no suppression of facts by UPSBC, despite the fact that an FIR dated 15.05.2018 had been lodged against it in respect of a particular bridge constructed by it at Janpad, Varanasi which had collapsed, killing 15 persons and injuring 11 persons. The investigation in this case resulted in a charge sheet being filed. After the trial commenced, the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, by an order dated 30.07.2019, stayed the trial. Despite these facts not being stated in the bid document submitted by UPSBC, the High Court found that there was no suppression of facts, as clause 7(b) of Annex I only required details as to investigations that were pending, and as “investigation” as defined under the Code of Criminal Procedure [“Cr.P.C.”] was different from inquiries and trials, there was no need to disclose the FIR and its aftermath, as there was no “investigation pending” strictly speaking, as it had culminated in a charge sheet. The High Court was also swayed by the fact that there was a difference of Rs. 9 crores between the financial bids of UPSBC and Rajkamal. Public interest therefore demanded that the rejection of UPSBC’s technical bid be set aside. The State of Madhya Pradesh was therefore directed to issue a letter of intent [“LOI”] in favour of UPSBC for the financial bid of Rs. 306.27 crores within a period of 30 days from the date of the judgment.

22. Coming to the public interest factor, and the fact that the financial bid of UPSBC is about Rs. 9 crores less than that of Rajkamal, the sting has been removed inasmuch as Shri Puneet Jain readily accepts that if, as a result of UPSBC being disqualified, his client is to be awarded the tender, he will do so at the same amount as the financial bid of UPSBC. For all these reasons, the impugned judgment dated 15.06.2020 is set aside.

23. We now come to Rachana Construction Co.’s case. Insofar as Rachana Construction Co. is concerned, it will not be open for a constitutional court, in accordance with all the decisions cited hereinabove, to substitute their view of the view of the tendering authority, when it reads clause 2.2.2.2(ii) in the manner that has been done. Suffice it to say that the expression “at least one similar work” could possibly mean only one such work, namely, the construction of one such bridge and not two such bridges, even if two bridges were to be constructed under the same tender document. It is not possible, therefore, for this Court to say that the construction of the aforesaid clause by the tendering authority is an impossible one rendering it perverse. Also, Shri Puneet Jain’s argument, though made here for the first time, does support the State of Madhya Pradesh, in that the two road over bridges that have been constructed under the agreement between DFCCIL and Rachana Construction Co. have a span of only 2380 meters taken together, which is certainly less than 50% of 7.473 kilometers. For these reasons, we dismiss Rachana Construction Co.’s SLP and uphold the judgment dated 02.07.2020 and the review judgment dated 04.08.2020.