In Brief
Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation, a Maharashtra government undertaking, issued a tender for supply of bulk polio drugs. Nirlac Chemicals' bid was rejected on technical grounds, and the tender was awarded to Bionet Asia Co. Ltd. Nirlac challenged this in the High Court, which quashed the tender finding CVC guideline violations (the tender was not opened in the presence of all bidders' representatives present). The Supreme Court upheld the finding of procedural violation, which vitiated the entire tender process. However, the Court also found Nirlac's bid technically deficient as it did not satisfy the requirement to generate business for Haffkine (i.e., commit to repurchase finished vaccine). The Court directed a fresh e-tender be floated with clear terms, and pending that, ordered Haffkine to place orders with Nirlac for 120 million doses at Nirlac's quoted price while restraining further purchases from Bionet."
The lawyer headnote and full judgment text are available to registered users.