Kimberley Club Pvt. Ltd. Vs Krishi Utpadan Mandi Parishad & Ors (Supreme Court of India)
Tender Condition Must Speak for Itself – Implied Requirement by Mandi Parishad Struck Down- SC Quashes Rejection of Tender Bid Over solvency certificate – Rules Authority Acted Beyond Tender Terms- Valuer’s Certificate Accepted as Proof of Solvency – High Court Order Set Aside
The Supreme Court set aside the Allahabad High Court’s order upholding the rejection of Kimberley Club Pvt. Ltd.’s technical bid by the Krishi Utpadan Mandi Parishad (Lucknow), holding that the authority’s action was dehors the terms of the tender & therefore unsustainable in law.
The dispute arose from a tender floated by the Mandi Parishad for leasing a banquet hall/terrace lawn for ten years. As per Clause 18 of the Notice Inviting Tender (NIT), bidders had to submit a ‘haisiyat praman patra’ (solvency certificate) of at least ₹10 crores with their technical bid. The appellant’s bid was rejected on the ground that the certificate was issued by a private valuer/architect & not by the District Magistrate. The High Court upheld this rejection.
The appellant argued that the NIT nowhere required the solvency certificate to be issued by a District Magistrate & that its certificate, issued by a valuer empanelled with the Income Tax Department, duly showed assets worth over ₹99 crores, of which the appellant held 76%. The Mandi Parishad contended that the certificate had to be in the prescribed form under a U.P. Government notification dated 29.10.2018, which authorised only District Magistrates to issue such certificates.
