Madhya Pradesh High Court: The petitioner, who challenged the eligibility of Respondent 5 to participate in the Tender process, was left high and dry when the Division Bench comprising of Hemant Gupta, CJ and Vijay Kumar Shukla, J. held that the Court in exercise of judicial review, will not sit as a Court of appeal over the decision taken by a committee of experts.
The eligibility of the said respondent to participate in the Tender for upgradation of Raipur-Sitapur-Paani Road was challenged by the petitioner. The alleged ground for the challenge was that Respondent 5 did not meet one of the conditions to participate in the process, viz. execution of the contractual works of the specified quantity during the last 5 years. The Chief Engineer, PWD (Rewa Division) sought information from Respondent 5 regarding the same but even before his response, the decision declaring him eligible for participating in the tender process was taken. The petitioner submitted that the decision of the respondents was arbitrary, irrational and unsustainable.
The High Court heard the parties and found no infirmity in the decision taken by the respondents. The Court held that “The question: as to whether the bidder is technically qualified or not, is a decision taken by the experts. Since the experts have taken a decision that Respondent 5 is eligible to carry out the work advertised, therefore, this Court in exercise of judicial review will not sit as a court of appeal over the decision taken by the committee of experts.” The Court found no merit in the petition which was accordingly dismissed. [TBCL Shiv Shakti Construction Co. (Joint Venture) v. State of M.P.,2018 SCC OnLine MP 351, dated 14-5-2018]
