J.B. Pardiwala JUDGMENT
J.B. Pardiwala, J.
1. Leave granted.
2. As the issues raised in all the captioned appeals are common and the challenge is also to the self-same order passed by the High Court of Judicature at Bombay dated 05.07.2022 in the Writ Petition (L) No. 15548 of 2022, those were taken up for hearing analogously and are being disposed of by this common judgment and order.
3. The Appeal arising out of SLP(C) No. 15708 of 2022 is at the instance of TATA Motors Limited (for short, "TATA Motors") (Original Writ Petitioner before the High Court).
4. The Appeal arising out of SLP(C) No. 11871 of 2022 is at the instance of EVEY Trans Pvt. Ltd. (for short, "EVEY") (Original Respondent No. 2 before the High Court).
5. The Appeal arising out of SLP(C) No. 11933 of 2022 is at the instance of the Brihan Mumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking (for short, "BEST") (Original Respondent No. 1 before the High Court), a statutory corporation operating under the provisions of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888.
FACTUAL MATRIX
6. BEST floated a tender bearing No. DMM(T-II)/08/TCU/73169/2021-2022/Advt. dated 26.02.2022 for the supply, operation and maintenance of 1400 (+50% variation) Single Decker AC Electric Buses with driver, for the purpose of public transport service within the city of Mumbai along with other civil infrastructure development at the BEST depots for a period of 12 years (hereinafter referred to as, 'the Tender').
7. The Tender document provided for Technical specifications as stipulated under Clause 3.5(e) and Clause 12 of Section 2 of Schedule IX, under which the bidders were required to provide Single Decker Buses which can run 200 Kms in single charge without interruption in actual conditions for the relevant Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) with air conditioning with not more than 80% battery being consumed. Clause 3.5(e) and Clause 12 respectively are reproduced hereunder:
SCHEDULE IX TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
....
Section 2: Technical specifications of SD AC Electric Buses under Wet Lease Scheme
....
8. In all, eight market players participated in the Tender process, including EVEY and TATA Motors. In the pre-bid meeting held on 11.03.2022, TATA Motors submitted its pre-bid points, wherein under Point 1, it requested BEST to consider its bid for 200 Kms per day with 75-minutes of opportunity charging time during the day operations and range testing conditions as per AIS 040/FAME II.
9. On 15.03.2022, BEST published the minutes of the pre-bid meeting. BEST revised certain specifications, however, the modifications as requested by TATA Motors were rejected. BEST opted for a specific reference to "in actual conditions" and excluded any reference to "AIS 040" or "Standard Co........