PATNA, India, Oct. 3 -- Patna High Court issued the following judgment on Sept. 3:
In the instant petition, petitioner has prayed for the following relief(s):-
"(i) For issuing of an appropriate writ/order/direction including a Writ in the nature of Certiorari for quashing and setting aside the letter No. AAI/PAT/Comml/NITB/Executive lounge and Meet& Greet/291 dated 01.07.2025 (ANNEXURE-9) whereby and whereunder the Petitioner has been debarred from participating in any Tender of AAI for One(01) year from the date of issue of this letter &the EMD shall be forfeited in accordance with Clause-14.4 of NIT and Clause-5 of General-Information & Guidelines; and/or
(ii) For issuing of an appropriate writ/order/direction including a writ in the nature of Mandamus for directing the Respondents to refund the EMD amount of Rs.10,05,000/- (Rupees Ten Lacs Five thousand only) in favour of Petitioner; and/or
(iii) For issuing of an appropriate writ/order/direction upon the respondents to reinstate the Petitioner in the list of eligible contractors upon reconsidering the impugned debarment order based on a fair hearing; and/or (iv) For issuance of any other appropriate writ/order/direction or other relief(s) to which the Petitioner is deemed entitled to under the law"
2. Respondents have floated tender on 01.07.2025 for the purpose of Executive Lounge Facility and Meet & Greet Facility at JPNI Airport, Patna, Bihar. The petitioner is one of the applicant, he had remitted EMD a sum of Rs. 10,50,000/-. Technical bid was opened on 10.03.2025 in which petitioner was successful. Resultantly, financial bid was also opened on 04.04.2025. Thereafter, the concerned respondents proceeded to issue Letter of Intent & Award (LOIA) on 21.04.2025. The petitioner is stated to have deposited a sum of Rs. 84,94,793/- towards advance fee on 19.05.2025. Thereafter, he has failed to comply terms of the policy read with the conditions stipulated in the NIT. In this regard, respondents have communicated to the petitioner to comply all those formalities for the purpose of giving effect to LOIA. On the other hand, there is no response from the petitioner. Resultantly, reminder was also sent. Thereafter, showcause notice was issued on 03.06.2025. The petitioner had admitted that he had certain financial difficulties and it has been addressed to the concerned authority vide Annexure-P/5. Thereafter, formalities have been completed insofar as issuance of show-cause notice for violating certain clauses for which he had submitted reply. The concerned authority has proceeded to pass the impugned order on 01.07.2025 by which he has been prohibited in participating in any tender of Airport Authority of India for one year from the date of issuance of the letter and EMD shall be forfeited.
The rest of the document can be viewed at https://patnahighcourt.gov.in/viewjudgment/MTUjMTQyMDgjMjAyNSMxI04=-x18cFoDmWDQ=
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
