HC quashes blacklisting of firm, orders fresh bidding in NMCG project

PATNA: The Patna High Court has come down heavily on Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (BUIDCo) for disqualification of a bidder on the basis of an anonymous complaint alleging fudging of facts and directed it to revisit the technical bid evaluation reports (TBER) for a Rs 300-crore World Bank-funded sewage and sewerage project in Hajipur under National Mission for Clean Ganga and take a decision accordingly.

“... BUIDCo has acted irresponsibly in passing the impugned order in casual and cavalier manner, which has serious adverse consequences not only in respect of the petitioner’s eligibility to participate in the bid with others in government contracts, but also for the progress of the project in question,” said the bench of Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh, while setting aside the blacklisting order and ordering fresh evaluation of bids by a committee under development commissioner, and not urban development secretary.

The order was passed on Monday.

Since three orders of blacklisting the bidder, M/s EMS, by the same chief engineer have been found to be illegal and quashed, the high court bench left it to the development commissioner to consider whether he should be allowed to participate as a member of the technical tender committee for evaluation of the technical bids, and whether there is any chance of his views being biased because of the facts and circumstances of the case.

“The court has not given complete clean chit to the petitioner and that BUIDCo shall be at liberty to act in accordance with law in this regard...,” the bench said.

Petitioners’ counsel and former additional solicitor general S D Sanjay said BUIDCo exercised its power of blacklisting only for the purpose of keeping the petitioner out of competition in the tender process in question.

Advocate General Lalit Kishore appeared for BUIDCo and defended the company’s decision.

The petitioner, aggrieved by a BUIDCo order to blacklist it on March 4, 2021 that rendered it disqualified for award of any contract by BUIDCo for a term of one year, had challenged the legality of the technical bid evaluation reports (TBER) of the BUIDCo.