Jharkhand High Court
Variant Commercial Pvt. Ltd. (A ... vs Bharat Coking Coal Limited on 4 September, 2023
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
W.P. (C) No. 2752 of 2023
Variant Commercial Pvt. Ltd. (A Company under the Companies
Act, 1956) having office at 7/1E, Club Road, VIP Road, Opp.
Haldiram, Teghoria, P.O. & P.S. Teghoria, Kolkata, 700052 (State of
West Bengal) through its Director Sourav Agrawal, aged about 39
years, son of Arun Kumar Agrawal, resident of 1802, New road
Phusro, Phusro Bazar, P.O. Phusro Bazar, P.S. Bermo, District
Bokaro, PIN 829144 (Jharkhand) ... Petitioner
Versus
1. Bharat Coking Coal Limited, through its Chairman-cum-Managing
Director, having its Office at Koyla Bhawan, Koyla Nagar, P.O. &
P.S. Koyla Nagar, District Dhanbad, Pin 826005.
2. The General Manager (Contract Management Cell), Bharat Coking
Coal Limited, having its Office at Koyla Bhawan, Koyla Nagar, P.O.
& P.S. Koyla Nagar, District Dhanbad, Pin 826005.
3. Coal India Limited, through its Chairman, having its head office at
Coal Bhawan, Premise No.04, MAR, Plot No-AF-III, Action Area-
1A, New Town, Kolkata - 700156 (Near Rajarhat), (West Bengal).
... Respondents
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CORAM: SRI SANJAYA KUMAR MISHRA, C.J.
SRI ANANDA SEN, J.
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For the Petitioner: Mr. Sumeet Gadodia, Advocate
Mrs. ShilpiSandil Gadodia, Advocate
Mr. Ritesh Kumar Gupta, Advocate
For the Respondents: Mr. Indrajit Sinha, Advocate
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06/Dated: 04.09.2023
Upon hearing the learned counsel for the parties, this Court
passed the following, (Per, Sanjaya Kumar Mishra, C.J.)
ORDER
1) By filing this writ petition, the petitioner prays for the following
reliefs:-
(i) For issuance of an appropriate writ/order/direction for
quashing/setting aside the decision/order of Respondent-Bharat
Coking Coal Ltd. (for short 'BCCL') as contained in Ref. No.
BCCL/CMC/Tptn43/Debar/VCPL/2022/36 dated 25.01.2022
(Annexure-6), wherein Petitioner has been debarred from
participating in future bids in all tenders of Respondent-BCCL,
in individual capacity or as a Joint Venture, for a period of 2
(Two) years from the date of issue of the order.
(ii) For issuance of further appropriate writ/order/direction,
including a Writ of Declaration, declaring that the order of
debarment dated 25.01.2022 (Annexure-6) issued by
Respondent No.2 is wholly without jurisdiction, void ab initio
and being contrary to the terms and conditions of e-Notice
Inviting Tender (for short 'NIT') dated 29.05.2021 and the
order of debarment amounts to an abuse of the process of law.
(iii) For issuance of further appropriate writ/order/direction, for
quashing/setting aside the Letter contained in Ref.
No.BCCL/CMC/TPTN/2022/537 dated 03.12.2022 (Annexure-
15) wherein the appeal filed by the Petitioner against the order
of banning/debarment before Respondent No.3 has been
dismissed which has been communicated to the petitioner by
Respondent No.2.
2) At this stage, the facts of this case are not in dispute. The
respondent-Bharat Coking Coal Limited (hereinafter referred to as
'BCCL' for brevity) published a Notice Inviting Tender dated
29.05.2021 from eligible bidders pertaining to the work of long-term
coal transportation including crushing of coal from different sources
of Bastacolla Area of BCCL to BNR Siding, BCCL including allied
jobs. The petitioner being an eligible bidder submitted his bid. One
BKB Transport Private Limited participated in the e-Tender.
3) Clause 4.1 of the Instructions to Bidders provided that each bidder
will submit only one bid and if a Bidder submits or participates in
more than one bid, then the proposal of the said Bidder's
participation shall be disqualified.
4) Clause 4.2 of the Instructions to Bidders reads as follows:-
"4.2 Conflict of Interest:
A Bidder may be considered to have a Conflict of Interest with
one or more parties in this bidding process, if:
a) they have controlling partner(s) in common; or
b) they receive or have received any direct or indirect
subsidy/financial stake from any of them; or
c) they have same legal representative / agent for purposes of
this bid; or
d) they have relationship with each other, directly or through
common third parties, that puts them in a position to have
access to information about or influence on the bid of
another Bidder; or
e) a Bidder or any of its affiliate participated as a consultant
in the preparation of the design or technical specification of
the contract that is the subject of the bid; or
f) In case of a holding company having more than one
Subsidiary/Sister Concern having common business
ownership/management only one of them can bid. Bidders
must proactively declare such sister/common business
/management in same/similar line of Business;
All such Bidders having a Conflict of Interest, shall be
disqualified."
5) The petitioner's bid was found to be disqualified because of the
fact that there was some conflict of interest in the sense that some
directors of BKB Transport Private Limited and this petitioner were
related to each other. However, the learned counsel for the
petitioner would submit that violation of this condition will cease as
there is no such provision which will entail blacklisting of the
petitioner.
6) The respondents have filed counter affidavit admitting the case of
the petitioner.
7) In view of the fact that the litigation is covered by the judgment
passed by the learned Single Judge in W.P.(C) No. 15 of 2022
disposed of on 23.02.2023 (BKB Transport Pvt. Ltd. Vs. BCCL
and Anr.) and, therefore, it is urged that this writ application should
be allowed.
8) In view of the aforesaid consideration and the findings recorded by
the learned Single Judge which is admitted by the respondents,
this writ application is allowed and appropriate directions are
issued. However this order shall not be considered as a precedent
because this order is being passed by us on the concession made
by the respondents.
9) There shall be no order as to costs.
10) Pending Interlocutory Applications, if any, stand disposed of.
11) Urgent certified copies as per rules.
(Sanjaya Kumar Mishra, C.J.)
(Ananda Sen, J.)
Manoj/MM
