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District: 24 Parganas (South)

In the High Court at Calcutta
Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction
Appellate Side

W.P. No. [W] of 2020

CAN of 2020

In the matter of:

An application for appropriate
orders

And

In the matter of:

1. VSAIPPL – Saytam Infra (JV),

a Joint Venture Consortium, having
its registered office at Chawda
Complex, School More, NSB Road,
opposite Bank of Baroda, Raniganj,
District – Paschim Burdwan,
Pincode – 713 347

2. Raj Kumar Singh, the

constituted attorney of VSAIPPL –
Saytam Infra (JV), a Joint Venture
Consortium having it’s registered
Office at Chawda Complex, School
More, NSB Road, opposite Bank of
Baroda, Raniganj, District –
Paschim Burdwan, Pincode – 713
347
...Petitioners
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Versus

1. Coal India Limited, service

through the Chairman cum
Managing Director, having office at
Premises No. 04 MAR, Plot No. AF-
III, Action Area – 1A, Newtown,
Rajarhat, Kolkata – 700 156, West
Bengal (E-mail ID: cmd.mcl.cil
@coalindia.in)

2. The Chairman cum

Managing Director, Coal India
Limited, having office at Premises
no. 04 MAR, Plot No. AF – III,
Action Area – 1A, Newtown,
Rajarhat, Kolkata – 700 156, West
Bengal (E-mail ID: cmd.mcl.cil
@coalindia.in)

3. The Eastern Coalfields

Limited, service through the
Chairman cum Managing Director,
having office at Sanctoria, Post
Office – Dishergarh, District –
Burdwan, Pincode – 713 333, West
Bengal (E-mail ID: cmd.eastern
coal@nic.in or cmd.ecl.cil@coal
india.in)

4. The Chairman cum

Managing Director, Eastern
Coalfields Limited, having office at
Sanctoria, Post Office – Dishergarh,
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District – Burdwan, Pincode – 713

333, West Bengal (E-mail ID:
cmd.easterncoal@nic.in or cmd.ecl.
cil@coalindia.in)

5. The General Manager (CMC),

Eastern Coalfields Limited, having
office at Sanctoria, Post Office –
Dishergarh, District – Burdwan,
Pincode – 713 333, West Bengal (E-
mail ID: cgmcmc.ecl@coalindia.in)

6. BPCPL and ARETPL-AT (JV),

having office at Saguna Gandhi
Murti, Danapur Cantt. Patna,
Pincode – 801 503, Bihar (E-mail
ID: dharmendrapathak@gmail.com)

       …Respondents/Opposite Parties

Application incapable of being valued

To,
The Hon’ble Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan, Chief Justice and His
Companion Justices of the said Hon’ble Court

The humble petition on behalf of the

petitioners/applicants abovenamed most
respectfully
Sheweth:

1. Your petitioners state that the petitioners herein have filed an

application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India thereby

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praying for inter alia, issuance of a writ in the nature of Mandamus

thereby commanding the respondent authorities to forthwith award the

subject Tender being No. ECL/HQ/CMC/e-tender/Nimcha (Amkola

Extn)OC Patch/104 dated 26.02.2020, in favour of the petitioner no. 1

herein, and to cancel, rescind and/or withdraw the purported Anti-

Letter of Acceptance issued by the respondent no.5 bearing reference

No. ECL/HQ/CMC/LOA/ Nimcha (AmkolaExtn)OC Patch/361 dated

09.07.2020 (not yet uploaded in the official server of ECL), in favour of

the respondent no. 6. The said writ petition is sought to be filed before

this Hon’ble Court at Calcutta and the same is presently pending.

2. Your petitioners state the petitioner no. 1 is a joint venture

consortium of M/s. VSA Infra Projects Private Limited, a company

having its registered office at: Shop No. 10, 1st Floor, APIIC Building, I.E

Prasanth Nagar, Kukatpally, Hyderabad, Pincode – 500 072 and M/s.

Satyam Infra, a partnership firm, having office at 6, Kadam Danga,

Ranisayer, P.O. Searsole Rajbari, Raniganj, District - Burdwan, West

Bengal.

3. Your petitioners state that the petitioner no. 1 joint venture

consortium was formed vide a Joint Venture Agreement dated March

21, 2020 with an object to submit bid for the work of hiring of HEMM

for extraction and transportation of 16.70 L.Te of Coal, Removal &

Transportation of 106.80 L.Cum of OB and Re-handeling of 37.30

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L.Cum OB at Nimcha (Amkola Extn.) OC Patch in Satgram Area. Vide

such joint venture agreement M/s. Satyam Infra was selected as the

lead partner of the petitioner no. 1 Joint Venture Consortium.

4. Your petitioners state that the petitioners are engaged in the

business of inter alia, excavation and transportation of coal for several

years, and the petitioner no.1 is a registered contractor, under the

Eastern Coalfields Limited (hereinafter referred to as “ECL”), having

Digital Signature Certificate issued from the competent authority.

5. Your petitioners state that on 26.02.2020, the respondent ECL

authorities had issued a Notice Inviting Tender (hereinafter referred to

as “NIT”), vide reference No. ECL/HQ/CMC/e-tender/Nimcha(Amkola

Extn)OC Patch/104 inviting Bid from Experienced Contractor under

ECL, having Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) issued from an agency

authorized by Controller of Certifying Authority (CCA), Government of

India, and which can be traced upto the Chain of Trust to the root of

Controller of Certifying Authority (CCA) for the work of “Hiring of HEMM

for Extraction and Transportation of 16.70 L.Te of Coal, Removal and

Transportation of 106.80 L.Cum of OB and Re-handling of 37.30 L.Cum

of OB at Nimcha (Amkola Extn.) OC Patch in Satgram Area”. The

estimated contract value of the said work was fixed at Rs.

117,95,10,500/- (excluding GST), and the earnest money to be

deposited by a bidder was Rs. 21,06,300/-.

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6. Your petitioners state that the petitioner no.1 being an

experienced contractor under ECL, duly participated in such tender

process by submitting his technical Bid. The petitioners applied for

issuance of credentials from the respondents and have submitted such

certificates provided by the respondents along with the bid documents.

7. Your petitioners state that the price bid was opened on

26.03.2020, by the GM (CMC) & GM (IED), and upon opening the Price

bid it was found that the petitioner no.1 had quoted a price which was

7.15% below the estimated cost. Thereafter as per the schedule tender

the reverse auction process was initiated and the petitioner no.1 had

also participated in such reverse auction process. That after the reverse

auction, it was found that the petitioner no.1 had emerged as the L1

bidder and it had quoted a price which was 18.17% below the estimated

cost.

8. Your petitioners state that your petitioner having secured to be

the L1 bidder was waiting for the issuance of LOA (Letter of Acceptance)

in its favour, when suddenly there was an outbreak of the coronavirus

(COVID-19) pandemic and the whole country was placed under

lockdown by the central government. The government after few months

initiated the process of unlocking and the petitioners were of the

opinion that now it would be awarded the contract, but the same was

not being done.

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9. Your petitioner state that your petitioners smelled some foul play

and inquired into the matter and had gained knowledge that the

Department of Contract Management Cell is proceeding in rejecting the

bid of the petitioners and intended to award the same to the respondent

no. 6 herein who had stood to be the L3 bidder. It is further stated that

the petitioner had also come to know that the alleged reason for such

rejection as held by the respondents was that the petitioner had not

been able to submit and/or upload Satisfactory Work Completion

Certificate

10. Your petitioners state that required working capital by ECL was

Rs. 3,37,00,300/- but the petitioner had submitted documents of

possession of a total working capital of Rs. 29,00,00,000/-. Thus, the

petitioner had both experience value and working capital as per the

eligibility criteria as referred to in the NIT but still the respondents are

finding flaws in it and are trying to award the subject tender to the L3

bidder.

11. Your petitioners state that in the instant case the petitioner no. 1

had provided two credentials of different tenders wherein the petitioner

had uploaded the agreement and work order which covers the

experience value but the respondent ECL due to reasons best known to

them are refusing to accept the same and are proceeding to reject the

bid of the petitioner and consider the bid of the L3 Bidder. Upon gaining
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knowledge of the same the petitioner had raised objection and had

forwarded a letter dated 07.05.2020, to the GM (CMC), ECL. It is stated

that in such objection letter the petitioners had informed the

respondents that they had even Awarded Tenders to parties who had

completed lesser work or has less work experience and in the instant

case the petitioners had completed much more work than the said

tenderers.

12. Your petitioners state that due to the purported action and/or

inaction and/or non-action on the part of the respondent authorities,

the petitioner has suffered and continue to suffer irreparable loss

13. Your petitioners state that the petitioner no. 2 has received

information from the officials of ECL that the Tender Committee would

cancel the bid of the petitioner and would grant the tender to the

respondent no. 6. The petitioners had given and/or uploaded proper

credentials from government agencies which not only makes the

petitioner eligible but the best candidate to award the contract and thus

it was found to be L1 Bidder but now the respondents are creating

grounds to reject the candidature of the petitioner which does not even

exits.

14. Your petitioners state that purpose of competitive bidding is to

extract the maximum lowest price in which the respondent authorities

could get the tender work could to be executed. Since in the instant
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case the petitioner had already quoted 18.17% less than the estimated

cost thus the respondents cannot go less than the same which would

increase the cost and will affect the public exchequer in this post

pandemic times, when money is scarce.

15. Your petitioners state that unless the respondents are restrained

from issuing the work order in favour of the respondent no. 6 and

further be restrained from rejecting the bid of the petitioner and be

further directed to award the Tender in favour of the petitioner, your

petitioners shall suffer irreparable loss Your petitioners state that the

balance of convenience is strongly in favour of the petitioners and

against the respondents. The petitioners have also been able to make

out a strong and rejection of reliefs sought for herein would visit the

petitioners with irreparable loss and injury.

16. Your petitioners state that in view of the averments made

hereinabove, it is gravely urgent to move this instant writ petition

immediately so that the concerns that is sought to be raised by the

petitioners herein are redressed.

17. Your petitioners state that in view of the subsisting urgency, the

petitioners herein pray for leave to file the writ petition and this instant

application without the duly affirmed affidavit. The petitioners herein

however undertake to file copies of the writ petition and the applications
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immediately after opening of this Hon’ble Court after attaining

normalcy.

18. Your petitioners state that the petitioners herein further crave the

kind leave of this Hon’ble Court to file the writ petition and this

application without the requisite court fees, but with an undertaking

that the deficit court fees shall be paid by the petitioners within forty

eight hours immediately after opening of this Hon’ble Court after

attaining normalcy.

19. Your petitioners herein furthermore undertake to attend to any

other formalities that may be required of them immediately after the

reopening or when called upon to do so.

20. Your petitioners state that the petitioners herein have

furthermore granted consent to their advocate on record and the

counsel so engaged by the said advocate on record to move this instant

petition and the writ petition through the video conferencing mode. The

same shall be linked through my personal mobile and/or laptop

computer.

21. Your petitioners state in view of the circumstances as mentioned

hereinabove, the petitioners humbly pray that this instant application

along with the writ petition may be listed before the appropriate bench

at the earliest occasion so that the grievance of the petitioners may be

addressed.
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22. Your petitioners state that the particulars of the matter are

mentioned hereinbelow:

Case details: Writ petition

Bench Details: Bench taking up matters relating to writ jurisdiction

23. Your petitioners state that the particulars of the conducting

advocate are mentioned hereinbelow:

Name: Saptarshi Kumar Mal, Advocate

Office Address

24. This application is made bona fide and for the ends of justice.

Under the premises as aforesaid, Your

Lordships would graciously be pleased

to issue a rule calling upon the

respondents/opposite parties herein to

show cause as to why the instant

application along with the writ petition

shall not be taken up expeditiously by

way of video conferencing and on

insufficient causes being shown and if

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no cause is shown to make the rule

absolute and to pass such further order

and/or orders as Your Lordships deem

fit and proper;

And

Your petitioners furthermore pray for

leave to file this instant application and

the writ petition without the duly

affirmed affidavit;

And

Your petitioners furthermore pray for

leave to file this instant application and

the writ petition without payment of the

requisite court fee on the specific

undertaking that the deficit court fee

shall be paid within forty eight hours of

the reopening of this Hon’ble Court upon

normalcy;

And
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Your petitioners furthermore pray for

interim and ad-interim orders in terms

of the prayers made hereinabove.

And your petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray.

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AFFIDAVIT

I, (insert), (identity, address, etc.), do hereby solemnly affirm and state

as follows:

1. That I am the (insert) and as such I am well acquainted with the

facts and circumstances with the instant case and am competent

enough to sign and affirm this instant affidavit.

2. That the facts contained in paragraphs no. 1 to 10 of the

foregoing petition are true to my knowledge and the rest are my humble

submissions before this Hon’ble Court.

Prepared in my office Deponent is known to me

Advocate Clerk to Mr.

Advocate

Solemnly affirmed before me

On the 22nd day of April, 2020

COMMISSIONER

I certify that all annexures are legible

Advocate
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District: 24 Parganas (South)

In the High Court at Calcutta

Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction

Appellate Side

W.P. No. [W] of 2020

CAN of 2020

In the matter of:

An application for appropriate

orders

And

In the matter of:

VSAIPPL – Saytam Infra (JV)

…Petitioners

Versus

Coal India Limited & Ors .…

Respondents

APPLICATION
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