Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Apr 5: High Court today observed that the lowest bidder has no vested right to claim for the allotment of contract once the technical bid is rejected by the authority and dismissed the plea of a contractor seeking allotment of work for being lowest bidder paving way for the SKIMS to go ahead with the process of 6-year old contract.
Justice Rajnesh Oswal dismissed the petition of a contractor Mohammad Umar Bhat who was seeking quashing of rejection of his technical bid and allotment of work to him on account of being lowest bidder. Pertinently the matter was pending for the last six year and the process of tendering was stayed resulting into six years delay in execution of work in SKIMS for which the NIT was issued.
The petitioner in response to NIT No. SKIMS/WDB/19 issued by SKIMS, participated through online mode and uploaded all the documents and even submitted his financial bid as well. The official respondents rejected his tender on the ground that he did not upload the Registration Certificate and as a matter of fact the Registration Certificate was very much with him.
SKIMS in opposition to the petition submitted that the petitioner has raised disputed questions of fact which cannot be considered while adjudicating the present petition and that total number of 16 Bidders participated in the tender process out of which 11 bidders were found eligible on opening of the financial bid and 05 bidders were declared technically non responsive. So far as the petitioner is concerned, he had not uploaded a valid Registration Certificate and had also not uploaded the latest Tax Clearance Certificate up to the stipulated date.
The allotment of the contract has remained stayed for six long years and as such the matter was heard finally with the consent of counsels appearing for the parties. Petitioner counsel argued that due to internet blockage, the petitioner could not upload the documents, whereas the fact remains that he had all the documents and had submitted the same with the official respondents.
Counsel appearing for the SKIMS, submitted that the petitioner had not complied with the terms and conditions of NIT and as such his technical bid was rightly rejected by the official respondents because of non-uploading of mandatory documents.
The contention of the petitioner is that he was having the lowest financial bid, so he had a preferential right to the allotment of contract. However, the court while dismissing his plea said, once the technical bid of the petitioner has been rejected, so merely the fact that he has figured as the lowest bidder would not vest any right in him for allotment of contract.
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