Content Provider | Supreme Court of India |
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e-ISSN | 30484839 |
Language | English |
Access Restriction | NDLI |
Subject Keyword | Notice inviting tenders |
Content Type | Text |
Resource Type | Law Judgement |
Jurisdiction | India |
Case Type | Appeal |
Court | Supreme Court of India |
Disposal Nature | Appeal Allowed |
Headnote | Tender – Scope of judicial review – Notice inviting tenders (NIT) issued by Navodaya Vidyalaya samite (NVS) on Govt. Portal (GeM) for supply of tablets for school children with specific ‘past performance’ criterion that bidder ought to have supplied ‘same or similar category’ products to the extent of 80% of bid quantity (which was changed to 60% by corrigendum) in at least one of the last three financial years before bid opening – Respondent offered its bid for the product and was declared disqualified for having fallen short in ‘past performance’ criterion by 10.20% - Representation made by the Respondent seeking clarification of the reason for rejection which was rejected by the NVS on the ground that only smart phones were supplied by the Respondent and the product smart phone does not fall within the description of ‘same or similar category product’ vis-a-vis the product required i.e., ‘Tablet’- Being aggrieved, the Respondent preferred the writ petition contending that ‘Tablet’ was an electronic product belonging to the ‘same or similar category’ as a ‘Smart Phone’ and that the decision of the NVS, excluding “Smart Phones” from “same or similar category products” was unreasonable and against the principles of fair play and logic - during the pendency of the writ, the successful bidder AGMATEL/appellant herein was awarded the tender – High Court allowed the writ petition and disapproved the technical disqualification – On appeal, held: Technical evaluation or comparison by the Court is impermissible and the author of the tender document is taken to be the best person to understand and appreciate its requirements and if its interpretation is manifestly in consonance with the language of the tender document or subserving the purchase of the tender – Court would prefer to keep restraint and even if the interpretation given to the tender document by the person inviting offers is not as such acceptable to the Constitutional Court, that, by itself, would not be a reason for interfering with the interpretation given – The only requirement of law, for such process of decision making by the tender inviting authority, is that it should not be suffering from illegality, irrationality, mala fide, perversity, or procedural impropriety – No such case being made out, the decision of the tender inviting authority (NVS) in the present case was not required to be interfered with on the reasoning that according to the writ Court. Principles/Doctrines – Doctrine of ‘Contra proferentem’ – Applicabilty of – It is applied in the case of ambiguity in the insurance policy because the policies are made by the insurer and its ambiguity cannot be allowed to operate against the insured- However, this rule cannot be applied to lay down that in case of any ambiguity in a tender document, it has to be construed in favour of a particular person who projects a particular view point- The obvious inapplicability of this doctrine to the eligibility conditions in a notice inviting tender could be visualised from a simple fact that in case of ambiguity, if two different tenderers suggest two different interpretations, the question would always remain as to which of the two interpretation is to be accepted?- Obviously, to avoid such unworkable scenarios, the principle is that the author of the tender document is the best person to interpret its documents and requirements. |
Judge | Hon'ble Mr. Justice Dinesh Maheshwari |
Neutral Citation | 2022 INSC 126 |
Petitioner | M/s Agmatel India Pvt. Ltd. |
Respondent | M/s Resoursys Telecom & Ors. |
SCR | [2022] 18 S.C.R. 861 |
Judgement Date | 2022-01-31 |
Case Number | 786 |
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