The plea by Adani said said that the Board had issued tender, thereby, commencing the first stage of selection for bidding.
Thereafter, the Board issued five addendums to the tender, which included providing of additional documents, etc. Even though the addendums were issued till October 28, 2021, the last date for submission of RFQs was November 2, 2021.
Adani submitted its RFQ by November 1, 2021 before the specified date and the Board acknowledged the receipt of the same.
After a few days of submission, the Board sought some clarifications and put certain queries to Adani to which the company responded promptly, the plea said.
The Board also raised a query on the termination of concession agreement between the Vishakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT) and Adani Vizag Coal Terminal Private Limited (AVCTPL).
Adani responded that an arbitration tribunal is currently adjudicating disputes between the parties on the legality of the termination.
Subsequently, Adani was informed that it had cleared the qualification stage and was asked to make the necessary payment to the Board for obtaining RFP which Adani did and received acknowledgement.
After completion of the process, Adani stated that it received RFP and Concession Agreement and was asked to participate in the bid stage and submit their financial proposal.
Before the procedure for bidding could begin, the Board sent a notice to the company asking them to show cause why they should not be disqualified from said tender.
The basis for this notice was an order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court they came across where the Court had upheld the termination of the concession agreement by VPT.
Adani responded to the notice, and was granted personal hearing by the Board. After such hearing Adani requested for a ‘without prejudice’ participation in the bid.
However, the Board on May 2, addressed a letter to Adani that as VPT has issued termination letter to them, it has been disqualified from participating in the present tender process.
The present plea was filed against the same.
Source: Barandbench
