In Brief
The Reserve Bank of India invited tenders for manpower supply. The petitioner and respondent No.3 both qualified on technical grounds. When financial bids were opened, respondent No.3's quote of Rs.11,08,472 was marginally lower than the petitioner's Rs.11,18,068, and respondent No.3 was awarded the contract. The petitioner challenged this, arguing that respondent No.3's service charge of Rs.0.01 per day breached the tender condition (which required non-zero, non-negative rates), since EPF statutory charges (0.5%) would exceed this. The Supreme Court dismissed the petition, holding that the tender condition concerned only the quoted service charge figure, not statutory obligations under other laws, and that Rs.0.01 satisfied the tender terms. The selection of the lowest compliant bidder was lawful.
The lawyer headnote and full judgment text are available to registered users.