Case Law Details
Sunshine Caterers Private Limited Vs Union of India Through Ministry of Railways & Anr. (Delhi High Court)
The case of Sunshine Caterers Private Limited vs. Union of India, through the Ministry of Railways & Anr., brought before the Delhi High Court, revolves around the disqualification of Sunshine Caterers’ bid in a tender issued by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC). The contention arises from the non-inclusion of certified information by the Chartered Accountant (CA) in the Unique Document Identification Number (UDIN) certificate, as required by the tender’s terms.
The petitioner, Sunshine Caterers, participated in a tender issued by IRCTC for onboard catering services in trains. They submitted their bid along with necessary documents, including Annexure(s) B, D, and E, certified by a CA with respective UDIN. However, IRCTC disqualified Sunshine Caterers’ bid, citing that the information certified in the annexures was not reflected in the UDIN certificates obtained from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) website.
The petitioner argued that there was no stipulation in the tender requiring the information in annexures to be mirrored in UDIN certificates. However, the respondent contended that UDIN was mandated to verify the authenticity of CA certificates and that the certified information should correspondingly mirror in UDIN certificates.
The court noted the purpose of UDIN to facilitate online verification of CA certificates and observed the discrepancy in the petitioner’s UDIN certificates, where certified information was absent. The court also highlighted that other technically qualified bidders had their certified information duly reflected in UDIN certificates.
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