Khushi Gupta
Published on: May 31, 2022 at 20:45 IST
Punjab and Haryana High Court has upheld an order vide which Sharma Constructions Joint Venture was declared technically non-compliant for e-tender floated by Punjab Agro Industries for the supply of gypsum for agriculture use, on the ground of being ineligible.
The Court noted that the expert committee of the authorities had examined the issue detail and found the Petitioner to be ineligible.
The Bench comprising Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha and Justice Arun Palli said, “A perusal of the Joint Venture Agreement would indicate that there is no clause indicating as to who would be managing the Joint Venture.”
“On the contrary, the document indicates that in spite of constituting the so called Joint Venture, the constituents/ proprietors would continue to manage their own separate firms.”
The Court noted that a Joint Venture Agreement was constituted by the petitioner after the issuance of NIT only to overcome the disqualification suffered by them under the relevant clauses of the agreement.
It further rejected the contention of the Petitioner that the tender was floated only to favour the private respondent by stating that the lowest tender out of two tenders that got shortlisted was ultimately allotted the tender.
Therefore, in light of the observations made, the Court dismissed the Petition for being sans merit.