M/S Alankit Assignments Ltd v. Union of India and Anr

SANJEEV NARULA, J. OCTOBER 12, 2023

* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + Date of Decision: 12.10.2023 % W.P.(C) 10872/2023, CM APPL. 42116-42117/2023 M/S ALANKIT ASSIGNMENTS LTD ..... Petitioner Through: Mr. Mohit Garg, Advocate. versus UNION OF INDIA AND ANR ..... Respondents Through: Mr. Vikram Jetly, CGSC with Ms. Shreya Jetly, Advocate for R-1. CORAM: HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJEEV NARULA SATISH CHANDRA SHARMA, CJ. (ORAL) 1. The present writ petition relates to Request for Proposal dated 20.04.2023 (the "RFP"), issued by the Embassy of India, Riyadh/Respondent No.2 for "Outsourcing of Consular-Passport-Visa (CPV)—Misc. Attestation Services At Embassy of India, Riyadh and Consulate General of India, Jeddah" (the "Subject Tender"). The Petitioner herein is aggrieved by a letter issued by Respondent No.2 on 13.08.2023, whereby the Petitioner was excluded from the Subject Tender process (the "Impugned Letter"). 2. The facts of the case reveal that the Petitioner, M/s. Alankit Assignments Ltd., is a company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 which provides e-governance, financial, insurance and healthcare services. After the RFP was issued, the Petitioner Company sent an email to Respondent No. 2 on 29.04.2023 communicating its willingness to participate in the Subject Tender along with a copy of its organizational profile. It is pertinent to note that the RFP required bidding companies to immediately submit their organizational profiles so that the same could be forwarded to Respondent No. 1/ Ministry of External Affairs (the "MEA") for pre-verification purposes. 3. The Subject Tender involved a two-stage process for bidding: (i) the technical bid and subject to success thereunder, (ii) the financial bid. The last date of submission for the technical bid was 26.06.2023 and accordingly, the Petitioner Company submitted its technical bid within the prescribed time on 08.06.2023. 4. Thereafter, on 12.07.2023, the Petitioner Company was informed by Respondent No. 2 via email that it had qualified in the technical evaluation stage of the Subject Tender with a score of 72.30/100. The email also stated that the financial bid for the Subject Tender would open on 27.07.2023. However, on 24.07.2023, Respondent No. 2 issued a notice extending the date of opening of financial bids without specifying the revised timeline thereunder. 5. In the interregnum, before the opening of the financial bids, the MEA, through its Consular-Passport-Visa ("CPV") division, sent an email dated 24.07.2023 to Mr. Ankit Agarwal, the director of the Petitioner Company seeking certain clarifications (the "Clarification 1"). The relevant portion of Clarification 1 reads as under: "M/s. Alankit Ltd., New Delhi has participated in the tenders floated by Indian Missions/Posts abroad for outsourcing of consular, passport and visa (CPV) services. Under Mandatory Eligibility Criteria in the RFPs, the participating companies are required to fulfil certain conditions. In this regard, we have learnt that several cases are pending against M/s. Alankit Ltd. and/or its promoter(s) with law enforcement authorities. Therefore, please provide the full details of these cases i.e. whether cases are still ongoing, what are the charges, updated status, etc. Please provide the requisite information and any other related information by Friday, the 28thJuly, 2023." (emphasis supplied) 6. In compliance with the aforenoted email, Mr. Ankit Agarwal, on behalf of the Petitioner Company responded to the MEA on 26.07.2023 and provided the following clarifications: (i) the Petitioner Company and M/s. Alankit Ltd. are independent and separate legal entities, and; (ii) the Petitioner Company and Mr. Ankit Agarwal are not named in any FIRs/ ECIRs and there are no pending prosecution proceedings against either party. 7. Being unsatisfied with the information provided, the MEA sent another email to Mr. Ankit Agarwal on 27.07.2023 seeking further clarifications (the "Clarification 2"). The rele