Tender exemption for Micro and Small Enterprises did not waive separate income tax return requirement, and bid rejection stood.

Exemption granted to Micro and Small Enterprises from prior turnover and experience requirements did not extend to a separately stipulated obligation to furnish income tax returns under the tender's technical bid conditions. The tender terms treated financial turnover, audited balance sheets, and income tax returns as distinct requirements, so non-production of the returns constituted valid non-compliance and justified rejection of the bid. In government contracting, the tendering authority's interpretation of its own document carries weight, and judicial review is limited to cases of arbitrariness, irrationality, bias, mala fides, or perversity; none was shown here.

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Issues: Whether the exemption available to Micro and Small Enterprises from furnishing prior turnover and experience extended to the requirement of filing income tax returns under the tender conditions.

Analysis: The tender conditions treated average annual financial turnover, audited balance sheets, and income tax returns as distinct requirements. The exemption for Micro and Small Enterprises covered prior turnover and experience, but did not dispense with the separate obligation under the technical bid clause to furnish income tax returns for the prescribed period. The Court also reiterated that in government contracts the tendering authority is best placed to interpret its own tender document, and judicial review is confined to testing arbitrariness, irrationality, bias, mala fides, or perversity.

Conclusion: The exemption did not extend to the income tax return requirement, and the rejection of the technical bid was upheld.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition failed because non-compliance with the income tax return condition was a valid ground for disqualification, and no ground for interference in tender review was made out.

Ratio Decidendi: An exemption from turnover and experience requirements in a tender does not automatically exempt a bidder from a separately stipulated obligation to furnish income tax returns, and courts should not interfere with the tender authority's interpretation absent arbitrariness or other recognised vice.

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