New Delhi, May 23: Parliament will soon have Bosch digital audio-conferencing systems that will enable UN-style simultaneous translation of speeches made in the House in six languages, including Bengali.
The Supreme Court today cleared the last legal hitch in the way of awarding a contract to Bosch, a German company. Bosch will replace the Brahler ICS systems that have been in place for 18 years in the House as well as at 7 Race Course Road and Vigyan Bhavan.
The new system will have digital conference, digital simultaneous interpretation, digital automatic voice vote recording, voting display system, digital recording and transcription, sources said.
At present, speeches in Parliament are translated manually and notice has to be given in advance that an interpreter will be required on a particular day.
Brahler, also a German company, lost out despite its long track record because it does not have a permanent office in India. It has supplied audio systems for the Bhutan Parliament and several Assemblies in the country.
Brahler admitted that its franchisee AKG Acoustics India, which had installed the equipment, had some problems in 1999-2000 and had turned irregular in its performance.
But Brahler alleged that the CPWD kept the manufacturers out of the servicing scheme, handed out tenders to other companies and later blamed it for not responding to requests for services or spares.
The tender floated by the government clearly specified that any company that would bid would have to have a Delhi office for the last seven years to facilitate smooth maintenance and service. The seven-year specification was later changed to two years.
The tender said applications of a company without an India office would not be considered and would be rejected at the pre-qualification stage itself.
Danish company DIS — Danish Interpretation Systems — is the other company that lost out in the tender process as it did not have an India office. Both Brahler and DIS relied on Indian dealers for their service and maintenance.
The Supreme Court today paved the way for Bosch to give Parliament’s audio system a makeover when it dismissed a challenge by DIS and Brahler to the tender floated in March 2009 for supply, installation, commissioning and after-sales service of the digital conferencing system in the Lok Sabha.
Delhi High Court had dismissed their pleas earlier. In a short order passed today, a vacation bench comprising Justices Deepak Verma and Sudhanshu Jyoti Mukhopadhyaya also dismissed their plea.
“… we are of the considered opinion that no case for interference is made out against the order passed by division bench of the High Court of Delhi in the petitioners’ writ petition. The special leave petition is accordingly dismissed and the interim order passed by this court stands vacated,” the bench said.
Both DIS and Brahler had complained in their petition that the tender was intended to benefit only Bosch and eliminate all competition. Both companies also submitted their bids drawing attention to their work in the field.
But these were rejected. They then approached Delhi High Court saying the tender conditions were unfair as they were intended to ensure only Bosch made it to the stage of technical and financial bids.
The high court had found no merit in their contention and had slapped costs on them in its August 16, 2010, order. Costs of Rs 1,95,000 were to be paid to the government and the CPWD and another Rs 1,65,000 to Bosch as litigation costs.
Hearing their appeal today, the top court also rejected their lawyer Jaideep Gupta’s arguments that the clause mandating an India office was arbitrary. “Why did you participate if the clause was bad?” the bench wondered. “You participate and challenge the tender when your bid is rejected,” the bench observed.
