The high court of Himachal Pradesh has affirmed the decision made by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) to forfeit a Kolkata-based company’s bid security of Rs 15 crore for the Shinku La tunnel project.
This company had initially quoted Rs 1,569 for a construction project involving the Shinku La tunnel beneath Shinku La Pass, which aimed to connect the Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh with the Zanskar region of Ladakh.
Shinku La tunnel will be the shortest, safest and third alternative corridor for the armed forces for forward areas of the Union Territory of Ladakh.
The court’s ruling, which rejected the petitioner’s appeal, was grounded on the absence of any compelling grounds for relief in favour of the petitioner.
The court emphasised that the public interest was of greater concern than any loss incurred by the petitioner.
The BRO had invited bids for the design and construction of unidirectional two-lane twin tunnels at Shinku La Pass, measuring 4.1 km in length, including civil and electrical/mechanical work, and connecting Darcha-Padam Highway to NHDL specifications in Himachal Pradesh and the Union Territory of Ladakh through an engineering, procurement, and construction mode.
The notice inviting tender (NIT) was accompanied by a request for proposal with terms and conditions for making the bid. Ten bidders, including the petitioner, participated in the tender process by submitting their technical and financial bids.
The estimated project cost was Rs 1,504.64 crore, with a completion timeline of 48 months. Subsequently, the company claimed that it had intended to quote Rs 1,569 crore and approached the court.
A division bench, consisting of Chief Justice M S Ramachandra Rao and Justice Ajay Mohan Goel, investigated whether the petitioner’s contention about a system error during the online bid upload on 3 June was valid.
The court concluded that if this were true, none of the other bidders could have uploaded their financial bids in crores on the same date. Furthermore, the court held that the system would not manipulate or alter any data entered by the bidder.
The court noted that the petitioner uploaded the bid on 3 June but was declared a successful bidder only on 25 August, more than two months later.
The company argued that it never intended to quote Rs 1,569 as the bid amount and requested that its bid not be considered for evaluation as it was non-responsive, as per the Economic Times report.
The court interpreted the relevant clauses of the request for proposal and concluded that the bid security could be forfeited if a bidder wanted to withdraw the bid within the validity period.
The court emphasised that the project was initiated by the Ministry of Defence through the BRO and that a delay in the bidding process would result in a delayed project commencement and cost escalation.
Such a delay would be detrimental to national security, making the withdrawal of the petitioner’s bid prejudicial to the public interest. Therefore, forfeiting the bid security was in the interest of public welfare, outweighing any loss to the petitioner.
With the construction of the Darcha-Nimmu-Padum road through the Shinku La tunnel, the distance between Manali and Kargil will be reduced to 522 km.
On completion of the Shinku La tunnel, the Manali-Kargil highway will remain open throughout the year, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in a statement.