The Government has decided to get prior security clearance of entities placing a price bid for Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. as it looks to prevent any last leg disruption in the bidding process while eliminating any chance of bidders with even any indirect Chinese linkage from being declared the winner.
Sources privy to the development said security clearance of all bidders before placing the financial bid or simultaneously with the price bids has been made mandatory to weed out unwanted entities and allow only companies or consortiums passing muster, to qualify in the process.
Also, such process would prevent delays in the event a winning candidate fails to get security clearance. In such a scenario, the next best candidate with proper security clearance could be declared the winner if it matches the bid of the disqualified winning candidate.
