Plea in Karnataka HC challenges BIAL advertisement tender process

The High Court of Karnataka has ordered notice to the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) on a petition filed challenging the tender process for establishing, operating, managing and maintaining advertising media at the airport.

Justice M Nagaprasanna has directed the matter to be posted on November 30.

The petition has been filed by Manpho Convention Center, a consortium, which had taken part in the tender process. According to the petition, the consortium was informed in June 2022 that it had not qualified in techno-commercial bid. The tender process was initiated by BIAL on January 28, 2022.

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The petitioner stated that the tender process lacked transparency and there is no adequate safeguard to protect the interest of the participants. According to the petitioner, the provisions of the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act (KTPP) are applicable since the state government holds 13 per cent of the shares in BIAL.

“The tender process is not in consonance with the provisions of KTPP Act. As per the Act, the declaration of the result and selection of the successful bidder can be announced only after the opening of the technical and commercial bids,” the petition said adding that in the present case, technical bid was evaluated first without opening the financial bid.

The petitioner consortium was thus excluded from further process which according to the petitioners was contrary to the provisions of the KTPP Act.