The Uttarakhand High Court has ruled that the state government has ‘no role to play’ in bidding processes and, thereby, cancelled the contract for solid waste management on public-private partnership (PPP) mode awarded to a private company.
Quashing the state government’s order awarding the solid waste management project for Haridwar to A2Z Infrastructure Ltd instead of the lowest bidder, Justice B S Verma ruled that the contract in favour of the company was mala fide and it was done intentionally to favour it.
The court also asked the Nagar Nigam Haridwar to award the work to KRL Infratech (India) Ltd, which had filed the petition praying for awarding the contract to it since it was the lowest bidder (L-1). “The impugned order disqualifying the petitioner (L-1) from bidding process and awarding the work in favour of L-2 (A2Z Infra) is without jurisdiction and, is illegal, since the state government has no power to play any role in the bidding process,” the court said in its recent order.
KRL Infratech, a member of the consortium comprising Vasundhara Bahuuddeshiya Sevabhavi Sansthan and Ajinkya Biofert, the controversy arose when the Nagar Nigam Haridwar approved the tender process and the L-1 bidder’s file was sent to the principal secretary, urban development, for the final approval.
The principal secretary awarded the contract to A2Z Infra which was found to be L-2 in the bidding process after holding negotiations with both the parties on account of experience.
The court noted that the writ petition was filed mainly on the ground that the state government has no role to play in the tender process at any stage either request for qualification (RFQ) or request for proposal (RFP).
The court also noted that the state government has invited other participants in negotiation process which was without jurisdiction since the sub rule (1) of rule-3 of Procurement Rules prohibits the private negotiations except L-I.
When contacted, Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain said directions have already been issued to comply with the high court’s order in this regard.
