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Siemens Aktiengeselischaft and S. Ltd. v. DMRC Ltd. and Others

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 2068 of 2014)Decided 14 Feb 2014
Civil Appeal No. 2068 of 2014
Justice T.S. Thakur · Justice C. Nagappan

Background

A bidder challenged Delhi Metro's award of a contract for 486 rail cars to Hyundai Rotem. The ranking considered promised energy-consumption figures as well as price, and the challenger argued that those figures had not been adequately validated. An outside government committee later questioned aspects of the evaluation while litigation was pending.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal with five lakh rupees in costs payable to the specified advocates' welfare fund. The announced evaluation rules had been applied uniformly, and they did not require the additional validation the challenger sought to imply. Delhi Metro had technical assessments and contractual penalties protecting its interests; a difference between expert views did not justify replacing its reasonable decision through judicial review. The outside report, prepared without hearing the successful bidder and not adopted by government, did not provide a sound basis to cancel the project.

Lesson Learnt

Courts reviewing a public tender examine whether the process was lawful, fair and reasonable, rather than choose their own preferred technical bid. A disappointed bidder needs a material legal or procedural defect, not simply a competing expert assessment.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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