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Indian Rare Earth Ltd charged with sabotaging tender

Ignored lowest quoted tender for raw sand.

Kollam: Indian Rare Earth Ltd (IRE), a public sector company under the Ministry of Atomic energy, has been accused of sabotaging the lowest quoted tender for procuring raw sand for its mineral separation unit here.

The incident has allegedly been repeated several times and the latest is that even the High Court order to consider the least quoted tender has been neglected by the company. The contractor who quoted the least rate plans to approach the HC to file ‘contempt of court’.

The company had called for tenders for transporting raw sand for the unit from the sites purchased by the IRE. The tender process includes submitting two parts quoting the technical specifications and the price part. The price part is opened after pre-qualifying in the technical part.

The contractors allege sabotage in the tender process after receiving a bribe. “I took part in the tender dated October 9, 2015 and the IRE claimed it was disqualified by merely saying that the papers were not clear though separate quotes were given in the work order. Though the High Court had issued a favourable order, the company ignored it,” a contractor on anonymity told DC.

The contractor had quoted Rs. 288 for a tonne of black sand to be transported to the IRE while a tender that quoted Rs. 333 was declared to be L1, the least quoted.

The contractor had approached the High Court and procured a stay on the tender process. The High Court has also ordered that the tender should be opened in the presence of both the companies on November 27, which has not yet been followed by the IRE, the contractor alleges.

In an earlier incident, a contractor won the tender through the intervention of the High Court though the IRE had disqualified it on an alleged sabotage attempt.

“I have decided to file a petition for contempt of court for the IRE ignoring the court order to consider the least quoted tender this time,” he said.

The tender had been called for transporting 50,000 metric tonnes of black sand from the sites of IRE to its mineral separation plant.

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( Source : deccan chronicle )
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