The Gauhati High Court has disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed for setting aside the Letter of Intent (LoI) issued by the respondent No.3 (The Director IT and Communication Department Government of Arunachal Pradesh Civil Secretariat Itanagar) whereby the contract for setting up of the State Data Centre in Itanagar, was given to the private respondent No.5.
In the petition, it is alleged that the respondent No.3 has issued the Letter of Intent in favour of the respondent No.5 for setting up of a State Data Centre without inviting any bids and in violation of the provisions of the law. It is contended that serious irregularities have been committed by the State respondents in granting the contract for setting up of the State Data Centre.
Reply to the petition is filed on behalf of the respondent State, wherein it is highlighted that since 2014 Notice Inviting Tenders (NITs) for setting up of the State Data Centre were floated on 6(six) occasions to find a suitable vendor for execution of the Project, however, every time the process for setting up of the State Data Centre could not be finalized on account of nonparticipation of any bidders, or due to single bid participation.
Considering the above fact situation, the State Government has decided to hire a Vendor from the Public Sector Undertaking (PSU), on nomination basis, to ensure timely and efficient completion of the Project and, for that purpose, a draft Functional Requirement Specifications was placed before the State Government, which has been approved by the State Government and thereafter e-mails were sent to 6(six) Public Sector Undertakings along with the Functional Requirement Specifications in August, 2022.
Pursuant to the above-referred e-mails, 3(three) Public Sector Undertakings have shown their interest and after due assessment of the suitability of the bidders, the contract for setting up of the State Data Centre was awarded to the respondent No.5.
Despite granting opportunity to the petitioner, no rejoinder affidavit is filed on behalf of the petitioner.
The Court noted that during the pendency of the PIL petition, the State Data Centre has already been established and inaugurated on 11.03.2024 and at present it is operational.
Taking into consideration the facts and circumstances of the case that the respondents have justified their action in awarding the contract to the respondent No.5 for setting up of the State Data Centre and also in view of the fact that no counter to the said justification is filed on behalf of the petitioner and taking into consideration the fact that the State Data Centre has already been inaugurated and at present is operational, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Vijay Bishnoi and Justice Kardak Ete do not find any reason to keep the PIL petition pending.
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