HC quashes NTPC rejection of Gammon subsidiary's technical bid

The Delhi High Court today set aside NTPC's notice rejecting the bid of Ansaldo Caldaie Boilers, Gammon India's subsidiary, for building super- critical power plants and directed it to allow ACB to move to the next stage of bidding.

A Bench comprising Justices Rajiv Shakdher and Sanjay Kishan Kaul set aside the notice of NTPC by which it had rejected the bid of ACB India.

"We are of the view the letter dated January 5, 2011, whereby the writ petitioner’s (ACB) bid has been rejected, deserves to be quashed," the court said.

NTPC rejected ACB's bid saying that it did't fulfil the minimum criteria stipulated in the techno-commercial tender.

"NTPC will allow the writ petitioner, in accordance with the terms of the bid documents, not only to proceed to the next stage i.e., Stage-II (price bid) but also permit it to participate in the technical discussions qua the tendering process," the court said.

ACB challenged the rejection, alleging malafide intent on the part of NTPC.

The Chennai based ACB India is a JV between Ansaldo Caldaie, an Italian Boiler manufacturer, and Gammon India which holds 73.4% stake.

NTPC had also returned the bank guarantee furnished by the company towards bid security.

Earlier, the court had stayed the opening of the bid.

NTPC tender had invited manufacturers to supply a package that includes 11 super-critical boilers and an equal number of super-critical turbines of 660 MW each.

Including ACB, there are four bidders for the tender. Bhel; L&T Power and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries JV and; a JV of BGR and Hitachi Power Europe GmbH are the other three.