CCI reduced penalty on four bidders in Pune Municipal Corporation bid rigging case

The firms are Fortified Security Solutions (Fortified), Ecoman Enviro Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (Ecoman), Lahs Green India Pvt. Ltd. (Lahs Green), Sanjay Agencies, Mahalaxmi Steels ( Mahalakshmi) and Raghunath Industry Pvt. Ltd. (Raghunath).

The tenders were floated during the period December 2014 to March 2015 for “Design, Supply, Installation, Commissioning, Operation and Maintenance of Municipal Organic and Inorganic Solid Waste Processing Plant(s)”.

Under the provisions of Section 46 of the Competition Act, 2002 (‘the Act’) read with the Competition Commission of India (Lesser Penalty) Regulations, 2009 (‘Lesser Penalty Regulations’), CCI reduced penalty on four bidders i.e. Mahalakshmi, Lahs Green, Sanjay Agencies and Ecoman, the release said.

The case against these firms was initiated on the basis of an information filed under Section 19(1)(a) of the Act by Nagrik Chetna Manch.

During investigation, all six firms approached CCI as lesser penalty applicants.

From the evidence gathered during the investigation, CCI found that there was bid rigging/ collusive bidding in the Tender nos. 34, 35, 44, 62 and 63 of 2014 for ‘Design, Supply, Installation, Commissioning, Operation and Maintenance of Municipal Organic and Inorganic Solid Waste Processing Plant(s)’ in contravention of Section 3(3)(d) read with Section 3(1) of the Act.

Further, CCI also found meeting of mind and co-ordination between various individuals which included the proprietor/ partner/ director of the firms to rig the tenders by way of submitting proxy/ cover bids.