Delhi High Court
M/S Saraswati Offest Printers ... vs Union Of India & Anr on 10 April, 2015
Author: Badar Durrez Ahmed
THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
% Judgment delivered on: 10.04.2015
+ W.P.(C) 3437/2015
M/S SARASWATI OFFEST PRINTERS PVT. LTD. ... Petitioner
versus
UNION OF INDIA & ANR. ... Respondents
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the Petitioner : Mr B.P. Singh and Mr Abhishek Singh
For the Respondents : Mr Abhay Prakash Sahay and Mr Amit Kishore Sinha
CORAM:-
HON'BLE MR JUSTICE BADAR DURREZ AHMED
HON'BLE MR JUSTICE SANJEEV SACHDEVA
JUDGMENT
BADAR DURREZ AHMED, J (ORAL)
CM No. 6146/2015
The exemption is allowed subject to all just exceptions.
W.P.(C) 3437/2015 and CM No. 6145/2015
1. This petition is, inter-alia, directed against the letter dated
10.03.2015 issued by the Directorate of General of Employment and
Training, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India
whereby only three parties have been shortlisted pursuant to an invitation
for Expression of Interest issued on 12.09.2014 for providing services of
Printing, Packing and Dispatch of secret documents for DGE&T under
the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India. The
petitioner does not find its name in the list of the three short listed firms.
When the petitioner issued a notice dated 14.03.2015 to the Directorate
General of Employment and Training, the latter responded by a
communication dated 19.03.2015 to the following effect:-
"Government of India
DGE&T-18021/4/2014-TTC
Ministry of Labour & Employment
Directorate General of Employment & Training
Sharam Shakti Bhawan, Rafi Marg,
New Delhi, dated the 19th March, 2015
To,
M/s Saraswati Offset Printers Pvt. Ltd,
Saraswati House,
A-5 Naraina Industrial Area,
Phase -II, New Delhi - 110028
Subject:- Expression of Interest dated 30.09.2014 for
Tender of Providing Services of Printing, Packing & Dispatch
of Secret Documents for DGE&T on behalf of Saraswati
Offset Printers Pvt. Ltd.
Sir,
This is in reference to the notice dated 14th March 2015 by
Sh. Abhishek Singh, Advocate on your behalf in respect of
above cited subject. In this connection, it is informed that your
firm is not meeting the criteria of past experience of similar
nature relating to printing, packing and dispatch of question
papers. Also, your firm has no experience in printing, packing
and dispatch of question papers in your premises and hence
has been treated as disqualified.
Yours Faithfully
Sd/xxxxxx
(Sunil Kumar Gupta)
Director of Training (TTC)"
2. The learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner
is a recognized „A‟ Class Offset Printer and is empanelled by the
Directorate of Printing, New Delhi, Government of India. He has drawn
our attention to the list of empanelled private printers / binders of the
Director of Printing, New Delhi, Government of India, a copy of which is
annexure P-8 at page 51 of the paper book. Serial No. 16 has reference to
the petitioner and, therefore, it is clear that the petitioner is an „A‟ Class
Offset Printer empanelled with the Directorate of Printing.
3. The learned counsel for the respondent appearing on advance
notice drew our attention to the pre-qualification criteria which were
specified in the invitation for Expression of Interest which was issued on
12.09.2014. Serial No. 4 of the pre-qualification criteria reads as under:-
"Sl. Pre-qualification criteria Supporting Reference
No. compliance
document
1. XXXXXXX
2. XXXXXXX
3. XXXXXXX
4. The firm shall have past Copy of work
experience during last 3 years order from the
from March, 2014 in executing department is to be
the similar type of assignments enclosed
related to Printing, Packing and
Dispatch of secret documents
services in Central
Government/State
Governments/PSUs/Government
bodies/Autonomous
Bodies/Private Sector in India
5. XXXXXXX
6. XXXXXXX
7. XXXXXXX"
He submitted that the requirement of experience is that the firms should
have had past experience in the last three years in executing similar type
of assignments related to Printing, Packing and Dispatch of secret
documents in Central Government / State Government / PSUs /
Government Bodies / Autonomous Bodies / Private Sector in India. The
experience certificate given by the petitioner is placed at annexure P-3
and is dated 25.07.2014. The same indicates that the petitioner has done
the work of binding, packing and dispatch of confidential documents.
The learned counsel for the respondent submitted that this experience was
only in respect of binding, packing and dispatch of confidential
documents and did not include printing of secret documents, which was
also a requirement under the invitation for Expression of Interest.
4. To this, the learned counsel for the petitioner replied that the
printing experience was evident from the fact that it was a class „A‟
empanelled printer with the Directorate of Printing, Government of India
as pointed out above.
5. After hearing the learned counsel for the parties, we are of the view
that although the petitioner has experience in printing, the requirement
was for printing of "secret documents". No such experience has been
indicated by the petitioner. It does have the experience of binding,
packing and dispatch of secret documents but lacks the experience of
printing secret documents. Serial No. 4 of the pre-qualification criteria
which we have extracted above clearly stipulates that the experience has
not only to be for binding, packing and dispatch of printing documents
but also of printing of secret documents. Admittedly, the petitioner does
not have experience of printing secret documents.
6. As such we do not find fault with the action on the part of the
respondents in not short listing the petitioner in view of the fact that it
does not fulfil the pre-qualification criteria stipulated in Serial No. 4
referred to above.
7. The writ petitioner is, therefore, dismissed. There shall be no order
as to costs.
BADAR DURREZ AHMED, J
APRIL 10, 2015 SANJEEV SACHDEVA, J
SU
