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LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2023
TO BE ANSWERED ON 30th JULY 2026
TENDER FOR TRANSPORTATION BY IOL FOR KOLKATA-HALDIA PORT
†2023. SHRI SUNIL KUMAR:
पेट(cid:332)ोिलयम एवं (cid:366)ाकृ ितक गैस मं(cid:361)ी
Will the Minister of PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS be pleased to state:
(a) whether a tender was floated for transportation by Indian Oil Limited (IOL) through tanker trucks at
Kolkata-Haldia Port under the Government, if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether any complaint regarding irregularity in the registration of trucks in the tender was received, if
so, the details thereof;
(c) whether the registration of the tanker trucks was checked after the complaint was made, if so, the
details thereof; and
(d) whether the Letter of Engagement (LoE) was issued without checking the registration of the tanker
trucks even though the tanker trucks were brought after the prescribed time-limit, if so, the details thereof?
ANSWER
पेट(cid:332)ोिलयम एवं (cid:366)ाकृ ितक गैस मं(cid:361)ालय म(cid:336) रा(cid:475) मं(cid:361)ी
((cid:373)ी सुरेश गोपी)
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PETROELUM & NATURAL GAS
(SHRI SURESH GOPI)
(a) Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) is a Board driven public sector Maharatna Company. It enjoys
operational and administrative autonomy in its day-to-day commercial/ administrative matters.
The tender for Road Transportation of Bulk POL Products – Black Oil Ex Haldia Refinery
Terminal was published by IOCL for engaging 80 number of Tank Trucks (TTs) for transportation of
Black oil products.
A total of 94 bidders participated in the subject tender, out of which 78 bidders (567 TTs) got
qualified and 16 bidders got rejected on techno commercial grounds.
Ranking of the bidders was done based on the evaluation criteria given in the tender document and
finally 10 bidders with total 80 TTs were recommended by the Tender Consideration Committee (IOCL)
for issuance of Letter of Acceptance (LoA).
(b) Certain complaints inter alia alleging the submission of forged or prematurely generated Registration
Certificates of TTs based solely on partial registration particulars by some bidders and non adherence to
prescribed verification procedure by the concerned authority were received.On similar subject, seven WRIT petitions have been filed in the Hon’ble High Court, Calcutta. All
the petitions have been clubbed and the matter is sub-judice. However, the Hon’ble High Court in its
interim order dated 30.6.2026 and 01.07.2026 has observed that “Considering the above, this court finds
that as per the terms and conditions of the tender, the IOCL has to see whether the firm who has
participated in the said tender having the vehicle registered in their name and they have to verify with
regard to the registration document of the respective vehicles, whether the vehicle has been registered
illegally or in accordance with law is not the duty of the IOCL to see at this stage”.
(c) & (d) As per the terms and conditions of tender, the verification of the Registration Certificate (RC)
of TT is done before issuance of the Letter of Acceptance and the physical inspection of the tank truck
(TT) along with the verification of other requisite documents is done before issuance of the Work Order at
the operating location.
In the subject tender, the registration certificates of 80 Tank Trucks, which were qualified for
issuance of LoA, were verified through the VAHAN/Parivahan portal and found to be in order.
Accordingly LoA was issued on 04.06.2026 to successful 10 bidders (80 TTs). Further, Physical
inspection of the tank trucks (TTs) and verification of other requisite documents were carried out at the
respective location, before issuance of the work order.
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