New File Added: Tender Documents post contract to be disclosed

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Tender Documents post contract to be disclosed

Jharkhand High Court ruled that once a contract is awarded, the tenders submitted for the contract must be disclosed under RTI, and these tenders are not protected under commercial secrets provisions of Section 8(1)(d) of RTI.State Of Jharkhand vs Navin Kumar Sinhga Urban Development Department (UDD) of State of Jharkhand invited tenders for work on sewage system of city of Ranchi. Four consultants submitted bids. Initially UDD had established that the bid will be granted on the basis of quality and cost. Some time during the process of selection of the contract the UDD changed its criterion. Now UDD decided to give contract based upon quality alone. UDD gave contract to one bidder. The rejected bidder asked for the tenders, submitted by the successful bidder, as well as the documents telling why and how the UDD had changed its selection criterion. The PIO of UDD gave some documents and refused to give document pertaining to change of selection criterion. Applicant moved petition to SIC. The SIC ordered disclosure of the documents. The successful bidder and UDD filed writ in Jharkhand High Court. A single judge heard the petition and upheld the decision of SIC. The petition was dismissed.UDD filed another petition in Jharkhand High Court against the decision of the single judge. The court described the origin of RTI and its relation to the Constitution of India. The court ruled that once a contract has been granted by a public authority, the papers must be disclosed to the public. There is no commercial confidence or trade secret since the successful bidder has already been decided. Disclosure of the tenders is not going to harm the competitive position of the bidders. The disclosure of this information is in public interest since it will show the transparency in the activities of the Government.(Synopsis provided by our member Satish Gupta)