A two judge bench of Delhi High Court comprising of chief justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and justice Tushar Rao Gadela has in their judgement upholding transparency and wisdom towards public procurement accorded such a judicious verdict that a Rs. 56 crore contract given to a party with a criminal background by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation to R.K Associates and Hoteliers was cancelled forthwith ruling that the bidder clandestinely didn’t declared or failed to reveal a pending criminal case against them, which is a requisite condition to disclose during filing of the tenders.
According to the Delhi High Court two Judge Bench this amounts to the violation of the essential conditions of the tenders meant to safeguard the anti corruption principles.
The bench took strong exception to the fact that the bidder secured the said contract without following the due process of law and violating the tender conditions.
The process by which respondent number 2 ( RK Associates ) has been issued the letter of award is VITIATED. Such a failure is undoubtedly not in conformity with the principles of fairness in Public Tenders said the two judge bench of Delhi honourable High Court.
The petitioner MS Deepak and company who was the rival bidder thought that injustice has been meted out to him. Therefore it approached the Delhi High Court challenging the April 17, 2024 letter of award accorded / allocated to RL associates despite the fact that their bidding was much less to the tune of Rs. 47 crores with no criminal background.
Although the proceedings in the case were stayed by the apex court the petitioner contended that R.K Associates were still obligated to reveal the pendency of the criminal case against them under section 2 (g) and 3) of the integrity pact.
The two judge bench of High Court unambiguously emphasised that “had the criminal antecedents relating to the period prior to the past three years been disclosed as mandated, the IRCTC would have been in a position to assess whether the reliability and credibility of RK Associates was compromised observed the honourable DHC ‘s two judge bench headed by the learned chief justice.
The DHC quashed the letter of award given to RK Associates on April 24 and directed IRCTC to re – commence the tendering process completing it within the next three months.
However the court allowed the RK Associates to continue its operations to avoid any interruptions in the services till the new company takes over after the tendering process.
It may be recalled that the Hon’ble Delhi High Court vide Judgment dated 22.04.2025 in WP(C) No. 6460/2024 titled as Deepak & Co. Vs IRCTC & Anr. has held that the IRCTC has issued the tender in favour of R K Associates (Contractor) without following the due process of law and in contravention with the tender conditions.
Accordingly, the Hon’ble High Court has quashed the Letter of Award dated 17.04.2024 in respect of six trains namely train no. 22435-36 (BSB-New Delhi Vande Bharat), 22415-16 (BSB-New Delhi Vande Bharat), 12003-04 (NDLS- Lucknow Shatabdi), 22417-18 (BSB-NDLS Mahamana Express), 14013-14, SLN Anand Vihar Express and 14005-06 SMI- ANVT Lichchvi Express awarded to R K Associates. The Hon`ble Court has further directed the IRCTC to issue fresh tenders of the aforesaid train within a period of three months. The Petition has been filed through Himanshu Pathak, Advocate. Senior Advocate Mr. Kirti Uppal had argued on behalf of the Petitioner namely Deepak & Co.
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