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TMI Blog2024 (3) TMI 842X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he Chartered Accountant have been submitted by the petitioner. The only problem that has arisen is that the State respondents wanted the IT Return for the Assessment Year 2023-2024. This Court is well aware of the judgments of the Supreme Court, which is to the effect that the decision-making process of the employer or the owner of project in accepting or rejecting the bid of a tenderer should not be interfered with, unless the decisions are found to be arbitrary and irrational. A mere disagreement with the decision-making process or the decision of the Administrative Authority is no reason for a Writ Court to interfere in a tender proceeding, as the author of a tender document is the best person to understand and appreciate it s requirement and interpret it s documents. The problem that however arises in the present case is that the respondents have not stated clearly, the specific years of the Financial Statement that were required by the tenderers. In the present case, the petitioner whose gross receipts was over Rs. 1 crore, was required to have his Income Return audited, in terms of Section 44 AB(a) read with Explanation 2 of Section 139 of the Act, 1961. When the statutory la ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... esentative of the petitioner, an objection was raised by the respondent authorities that the petitioner had not submitted the IT return for the assessment year 2023-2024 along with the tender documents. The petitioner thereafter immediately submitted a letter dated 16.08.2023 at 4.20 P.M. to the respondent authorities, stating that the question of filing the IT return for the assessment year 2023-2024 did not arise, in terms of Section 44 AB(a) read with Explanation 2 of Section 139 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (in short, the Act, 1961 ). 6. Subsequent to the above facts, the petitioner was informed, vide letter dated 07.09.2023 issued by the respondent, that his bid had been rejected, on the ground that the petitioner had not submitted the IT return for the assessment year 2023-2024, which was a requirement as per the list of documents enumerated in the tender notice. 7. The petitioner s counsel submits that no specific years for filing Income Tax Returns were mentioned in the Tender Notice. Further in terms of Section 44 AB(a) read with Explanation 2 of Section 139 of the Act, 1961, the due date for submitting the return of income for auditing the same was 31st day of October of t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... isfaction of the authorities inviting the bids. As the respondents have taken a decision that the petitioner s bid did not conform to the tender conditions, the said decision cannot be questioned by way of judicial review. 9. I have heard the learned counsels for the parties. 10 The checklist, which is a part of the tender notice, requires that the IT return of the last assessment year should also be enclosed along with the tender document. At the outset, it may be stated here that there is no specific years mentioned in the Tender Notice, for which the IT Return Certificates for the last 3 years have to be provided. The IT return of the last assessment year which has to be submitted, has also not been specified in the tender notice. 11. The petitioner s gross receipts in terms of the Trading Profit Loss Account for the year ending 31.03.2022 issued by the Chartered Accountant on 07.10.2022, shows that the gross receipts amounted to Rs. 1,73,05,057.31. 12. Section 44 AB(a) read with Explanation 2 of Section 139 of the Act, 1961 provides that every person, carrying on business shall, if his total sales, turnover or gross receipts, as the case may be, in business, exceed or exceeds 1 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ary, even that decision should be respected. It further held that though lawfulness of a decision can be taken on very limited grounds, the soundness of a decision taken by the authorities in a tender process cannot be questioned. 18. The clauses of the tender notice requiring the bidders to submit their IT Return for the last Assessment Year and the Financial Statement of last 3 years from the Chartered Accountant have been submitted by the petitioner. The only problem that has arisen is that the State respondents wanted the IT Return for the Assessment Year 2023-2024. This Court is well aware of the judgments of the Supreme Court, which is to the effect that the decision-making process of the employer or the owner of project in accepting or rejecting the bid of a tenderer should not be interfered with, unless the decisions are found to be arbitrary and irrational. A mere disagreement with the decision-making process or the decision of the Administrative Authority is no reason for a Writ Court to interfere in a tender proceeding, as the author of a tender document is the best person to understand and appreciate it s requirement and interpret it s documents. 19. The problem that ho ..... 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