ORDER SHEET

IN THE HIGH COURT OF SINDH,

CIRCUIT COURT, HYDERABAD.

 

 

                                    C.P.No.D-   1534    of   2015

                                     

 

 

                                      Present:

                                      Mr. Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi.

                                      Mr. Justice Abdul Malik Gaddi.

 

 

 

          1. For Katcha Peshi.

          2. For hearing of MA 7103/2015.

 

 

 

Date of hearing:     03.09.2015.

 

 

 

Mr. Muhammad Hashim Leghari, Advocate for petitioner.

Mr. Irfan Ahmed Qureshi, Advocate for intervenor/respondent No.5.

Mr. Allah Bachayo Soomro, Additional A.G. a/w Mohibullah Talpur, Taxation Officer, Town Committee, Jhudo.

                            

 

O R D E R

 

 

ABDUL MALIK GADDI, J:        Through this Constitutional Petition, the petitioner has prayed for following relief (s):-

“A.     To declare that the petitioner is entitled to get the contract of Cattle Piri Fee of Town Committee Jhuddo, District Mirpurkhas for the year 2015-16 being highest bidder of Rs.2,35,00,000/-.

B.      To declare the act of the respondents awarding contract of Cattle Piri Fee of Town Committee Jhudo, District Mipurkhas for the year 2015-16 to one favourite contractor on political consideration for a meager sum of Rs.18,700,500/- as illegal, unlawful and ab-initio and huge loss to the government exchequer.

C.      Interim orders as solicited thereby suspending the operation and implementation of the impugned letter dated 15th July, 2015 till final decision of the petition.”

 

2.       Briefly, stated facts of the case are that respondent No.3 published a notice for auction of Cattle Piri in daily “Kawish” dated 09.06.2015 for the year 2015-16; the petitioner being contractor obtained the auction documents and submitted the same alongwith DD/PO of Rs.22,42,500/- in favour of Town Committee Jhudo being 10% of auction amount; that petitioner appeared for auction proceedings but he was informed that due to non-availability of respondent No.2, the auction proceedings have been postponed; that after postponement, petitioner offered a bid price of Rs.2,35,00,000/-; subsequently through impugned letter, petitioner came into knowledge that contract has been awarded to one Kamran by respondent No.1 against the bid price of Rs.18,700,500/- which is violation of Sindh Public Procurement Rules and Sindh Local Government Act, 2013.

3.       Notices were issued to the respondents as well as learned A.A.G. Thereafter, on 01.09.2015 the application M.A. No.7350/2015 filed by intervenor Kamran was allowed with the consent of learned counsel for the petitioner and the said Kamran who was given the contract was impleaded as respondent No.5 in this petition and such amended title was also filed. Comments on behalf of respondents No.2 and 3 were filed by learned A.A.G and counter affidavit was also filed by intervener Kamran Ali/respondent No.5.

4.       It is contended by learned counsel for the petitioner that the petitioner was highest bidder and he offered Rs.2,35,00,000/- for the contract of Cattle Piri Fee of Town Committee Jhudo but such offer was not considered and the respondents by ignoring the requisite rules and regulations, awarded contract to one Kamran on lowest bid of Rs.18,700,500, which is clear violation of law.

5.       On the other hand, learned counsel for respondent No.5 Kamran (intervenor) as well as learned A.A.G. contended that after completing all the codal formalities, the contract was awarded to the intervenor Kamran Ali and there was no violation of rules as stated by learned counsel for the petitioner and the impugned letter issued in favour of respondent No.5 is in accordance with law.

6.       Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the material available on record so also the letter dated 15th July 2015 and other relevant documents.

7.       From the perusal of record, it appears that the said contract of Cattle Piri Jhudo was held three times dated 26.06.2015, 29.06.2015 and 30.06.2015. From the comments of respondent No.2, it revealed that petitioner obtained Pay order / Call Deposit bearing Cheque No.9654400 dated 2nd July 2015 amounting to Rs.2,242,500/- through U.B.L Jhudo after three days i.e. lapse of scheduled date and the said amount was withdrawn / encashed on 8th July 2015 by the depositor which fact has been verified by concerned Bank. It is also stated in the said comments that petitioner obtained the Pay Order / Call Deposit on 02.07.2015 after the expiry of auction date which too was withdrawn by him, in doing so, he has waived his right and filed this petition with malafide intention. The participant was bound to deposit the 10% of contract official bid as security deposit within the stipulated period and on the contrary the petitioner himself has violated the requirements of law by depositing the amount after lapse of three days.

8.       We have also gone through the impugned letter dated 15.07.2015 through which the contract was awarded to respondent No.5 Kamran being highest bidder in the sum of Rs.1,87,00,500/- which under the circumstances was in accordance with law as no other contractor offered highest bid than the respondent No.5. As observed above that the Cattle Piri for the year 2015-16 was auctioned three times but no one came forward to obtain such bid and all the three times the bid was suspended due to non-participation of any contractor. Lastly, the respondent No.5 offered the bid to the government Cattle Piri for the year 2015-16 in the sum of Rs.1,87,00,500/- and he was declared successful bidder for the said contract through letter dated 15th July 2015. Moreso, the petitioner himself has remained as defaulter by not participating in the initial auctions and finally he deposited the security amount after the lapse of three days of the stipulated period which was subsequently withdrawn by him, in doing so, he has waived his right and filed the present petition malafidely. Admittedly, the respondent No.5 offered bid on 08.07.2015, the same was confirmed on 15.07.2015 and the possession was delivered to him for running said Cattle Piri which has been done after completing all the legal formalities.

9.       In view of what has been discussed above, we are of the considered view that since the petitioner himself withdrawn his 10% security amount from the Bank which was also verified from the concerned Bank and that he offered the bid after lapse of three days, therefore, this petition having no merits for consideration is hereby dismissed alongwith listed application.

 

 

                                                                                       JUDGE

 

 

                                                          JUDGE

 

                                                         

 

                                                         

 

Tufail