Sports complex for 2036 Olympics: HC dismisses construction firm plea against disqualification from bidding

The company had also challenged that while being disqualified, no reasons for disqualification were given by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), the authority that had issued and evaluated the bids.

The division bench of Chief Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice AJ Shastri to this effect observed that AMC’s reasons assigned for disqualification of the company “are very much reflecting on record and on the file” and “mere non-communication of it may not alter the situation in favour of the petitioners (Cube Construction)”.

Advocate General Kamal Trivedi, who was representing the civic body, along with AMC counsel GH Virk, had submitted before the court that the petitioner-company was not fulfilling the required technical capacity as it has not successfully completed or partly constructed any sports complex for indoor or outdoor sports facilities of such national and international competition standards and anticipating disqualification, the company had requested that expression “theme park” be added to the criteria for technical qualification in a pre-bid meeting in December 2021.

The bench observed that “as such technical evaluation has been undertaken by the authority which is well within their domain to examine and opine” and thus examining the technicality would not fall within the court’s purview.

“What kind of standards of a Sports Complex the authority wants, is the exclusive domain of the tender inviting authority itself and such expert technical evaluation in our opinion is outside the purview of this court to examine and as such prima facie we are of the opinion that decision making process is not unfair or arbitrary which can permit us to interfere,” the court noted in its verdict, made public on Wednesday.

The verdict further adds that the court “cannot undertake the exercise of reading the conditions of tender by using a magnifying glass and arrive at a conclusion that the works done by the petitioner (Cube Construction) is similar to the work which is prescribed under tender notification.”

Noting that AMC is “clear in its thought process” on the requirements expected from a bidder for constructing such a sports complex, added that AMC would be the “best judge to arrive at a conclusion as it would understand its requirement for achieving the object envisaged under the tender document.”