The Patna High Court dismissed the petition against the bid disqualification notice citing the building bid evaluation by the income tax department is proper and justified. The court observed that the place of the petitioner was evaluated by the Building Hiring Committee through visits.
The petitioner, Aman Pathak filed an application seeking to set aside the notice issued by the Additional Commissioner of Income Tax. This notice declared the petitioner unqualified based on the evaluation of a technical bid submitted by various bidders, including the petitioner.
The petitioner submitted that the Income Tax Department had initially entered into an agreement with his grandmother on December 15, 1999, to lease the ground floor of her house in Katria, Ara, for office space.
Further, the property was later transferred to the petitioner’s mother, and another lease agreement was made on August 5, 2009, for a rent of Rs. 14,000 per month. The lease was renewed several times, with the last extension ending on March 31, 2024.
On February 16, 2024, the Income Tax Department published a notice in the daily newspaper expressing its intention to hire a building for office premises at Ara.
The petitioner, along with others, submitted a technical and financial bid. On April 19, 2024, the Building Hiring Committee, chaired by the Additional Commissioner of Income Tax, informed the petitioner that he was not qualified for the financial bid evaluation.
The petitioner’s counsel, Adv. Rajib Ranjan Jha argued that the notice did not provide any reasons for the disqualification.
The Court found that the petitioner was aggrieved by the Income Tax Department’s decision to vacate the premises without providing reasons, despite a long-term rental relationship. However, it was noted that the last lease agreement allowed the Department to terminate the lease with a three-month notice, and the lease ended on March 31, 2024. The petitioner did not allege any violation of the lease terms.
The bench of Chief Justice K. Vinod Chandran and Justice Partha Sarthy concluded that “ In the opinion of this Court, the suitability etc. of the premises of the bidders having been evaluated not only on the basis of technical bid submitted but also by visit of the members of the Building Hiring Committee to the premises in question on 16.4.2024, as is borne out from paragraph no.14 read with Annexure-P/7 of the writ application, the Court finds no merit in the contention raised by the petitioner.” Thus, the court dismissed the writ petition finding no merits in the case
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