Tripura HC quashes transport tender for smart cards, cost imposed

The Tripura High Court has quashed the award of a contract for the state's smart card-based driving licence and vehicle registration certificate project, holding that the tender process was arbitrary, unreasonable and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao and Justice Biswajit Palit passed the order while allowing a writ petition filed by M-Tech Innovations Ltd challenging its disqualification from the bidding process.

The petitioner, which had executed the project from 2017 for five years, challenged the Transport Department's decision to declare its technical bid "non-responsive" in the fresh tender floated on December 28, 2022, for selecting a service provider for the next five years.

The company contended that no reasons were assigned for rejecting its technical bid despite representations made to the authorities and alleged that the decision was intended to favour another bidder, Rosmerta Technologies Ltd.

Examining the records, the court found that the petitioner had submitted documents relating to turnover and audited financial statements for the financial years 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22, as required under the request for proposal (RFP).

The bench rejected the state government's contention that the petitioner was required to furnish documents for the financial years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20, observing that such an interpretation was contrary to the tender conditions.

The court held that the authorities had deliberately misread the tender conditions and attempted to justify the rejection of the petitioner's bid on grounds not supported by the RFP.

It further noted that the successful bidder had also failed to comply with certain tender requirements relating to income tax returns, but similar deficiencies were overlooked.

"If the requirement was waived for one bidder, it could not be selectively enforced against another," the bench observed, holding that such differential treatment amounted to arbitrariness.

The court also criticised the stand taken by the state authorities in their affidavit, observing that false and untenable pleas had been raised despite documentary evidence to the contrary. Referring to Supreme Court judgments, the bench reiterated that the government must act as a model litigant and should not rely on false or technical grounds to defeat legitimate claims.

The bench held that the Technical Evaluation Committee had ignored material submitted by the petitioner, wrongly interpreted the eligibility conditions and treated similarly placed bidders differently, resulting in an unfair evaluation process.

Setting aside the contract awarded to Rosmerta Technologies Ltd, the court also quashed the work order issued on November 28, 2023, and the agreement executed on November 16, 2023.

The bench directed the Transport Department to invite fresh tenders for the project immediately.

It also ordered respondents one to five, representing the state authorities, and respondent six, Rosmerta Technologies Ltd, to pay litigation costs of Rs 20,000 each to the petitioner within six weeks.