In the face of allegations of documents leak and tweaks, the Bihar government has awarded the contract to run emergency ambulances across the state to a company owned by relatives of Jehanabad MP of the ruling JD(U), The Indian Express reported on Monday, citing official documents.
As per the report, the Rs 1,600-crore contract was renewed for another five years on May 31, with a clause added in the contract that it could be extended by three more years, and was awarded to Patna-based Pashupatinath Distributors Private Limited (PDPL), run by relatives of Jehanabad MP Chandeshwar Prasad Chandravanshi.
Under this, PDPL will run a fleet of 2,125 ambulances as part of the national Dial 102 Emergency service.
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The directors of PDPL include – Sunil Kumar, son of the Jehanabad MP; Neha Rani, wife of Sunil Kumar; Monalisha, wife of Jitendra Kumar, son of MP; and Yogendra Prasad Nirala, brother-in-law of the MP.
Changes in tender terms
This is the second stint for PDPL running Dial 102 ambulances but this time as sole bidder. In 2017, PDPL and Samman Foundation, as a consortium, got the Rs 400-crore Dial 102 contract to run about 650 ambulances. This time, however, Samman teamed up with BVG India Limited, Mumbai; and was joined by two other bidders: Ziquitza Health Care Limited, Mumbai; and GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute, Secunderabad, reported IE.
Official records investigated by The Indian Express show how norms were tweaked amid objections since the Request for Proposal (RFP) was issued on April 5, 2022.
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The original RFP said the bidder (in case of the sole bidder) must have experience in operations and management of “at least 750 ambulances (besides 50 advanced life support ambulances)” supported by a call centre of “at least 75 seats” over three years since 2018-19.
PDPL had not independently run ambulance services in Bihar and had a call centre of only 50 seats during these three years. Incidentally, it got relief when State Health Society of Bihar (SHSB) — the Health Department agency that handles the service — reduced the stipulated number of advanced life support ambulances to 40 and call centre to 50 seats in the RPF.
In addition to this, in May 2022, as per a corrigendum, a key term was changed. While the original RFP had said the “the final selection of the agency/ bidder shall be as per Quality and Cost based Selection (a standard practice in hiring agency with good experience),” the corrigendum said “the final selection of the agency shall be as per the least cost selection method”, effectively, clearing the decks for the lowest bidder, The Indian Express reported.
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‘Have no personal say or stake in it’
“It is my relatives’ company and I have no personal say or stake in it,” MP Chandeshwar Prasad Chandravanshi told The Indian Express when contacted on the matter.
Asked about the potential conflict of interest over his kin’s business getting a state government contract for the second term in a row amid allegations of favouritism, he said, “We all know Nitish Kumar, he does not favour anyone. PDPL is an established company that was in petroleum, liquor trading and transport business and got Dial 102 contract purely on merit. We are now established in ambulance services.”
Rivals go to court
Other bidders, Samman and BVG India Limited, Mumbai, who were disqualified for not having submitted the stipulated balance sheet, challenged the contract and approached the court in December 2022.
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On December 8, 2022, a Division Bench of Patna High Court, comprising Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Sunil Dutta Mishra, said that since the matter would require the court to consider the grievance raised by the petitioner, “the tender process, which has already begun, may continue but no final decision shall be taken by the Committee (State Health Society of Bihar) without leave of this court”.
Later in April, when state Advocate General PK Shahi requested the court to vacate its December 8 order and allow the contract be awarded to the lowest bidder, the court asked who, between PDPL and Samman, could execute the fresh tender at a rate lower than the existing one. Samman agreed to do this and filed an affidavit to this effect while PDPL refused.
Significantly, the same day, the court flagged the complaint of leaks and urged the State Health Society of Bihar (SHSB) to “secure the complete records” and asked its administrative officer to explain whether “it is permissible for him to reveal certain material information.”
A fortnight later, the court vacated the December 8 order saying it “stands modified to the extent that lowest bidder is permitted to execute the work subject to outcome of the present writ petition”.
The bidders then approached the Supreme Court to challenge the order on the plea that Samman was not considered the lowest bidder despite its affidavit. On May 15, the SC bench made it clear that the High Court “shall advert to all contentions and consider and dispose of the Writ Petition on its own merits and in accordance with law..”. It also asked the High Court to refer to its order of April 10 (on offering work to lowest bidder) and added that if the writ petition cannot be disposed of “immediately,” the submissions made by the petitioners be considered after “hearing all the parties,” The Indian Express reported.
State cites A-G opinion
Despite a pending decision, SHBS executive director Sanjay Kumar Singh, in a letter addressed to civil surgeons of all 38 Bihar districts on May 31, said: “… Following interim orders of Patna High Court and legal opinion from learned advocate general, operationalisation and management of fleet of ambulances and mortuaries vans through integrated centralized call centre in the state of Bihar under public private partnership (PPP) mode, the contract is awarded to L-1 bidder M/s Pashupatinath Distributors Private Limited, Patna”.
“The state was running an estimated loss of over Rs 2.5 crore per month on account of the delay… so we went ahead with PDPL, the lowest bidder. As for the SC order asking the Patna High Court to dispose of the matter, the order does not look clear. The SC order did not stay the HC order but asked to consider other aspects. Under these circumstances, we sought opinion of the A-G and decided to award the provisional contract to PDPL. If the HC orders otherwise, we will comply accordingly,” Singh told The Indian Express, when asked why had he done this despite instructions from the court to wait until the petition had been disposed of.