BASIC REQUIREMENT OF ARTICLE 14 IS FAIRNESS IN ACTION BY THE STATE, AND NON- ARBITRARINESS IN ESSENCE AND SUBSTANCE IS THE HEART BEAT OF FAIR PLAY: TELANGANA HIGH COURT
The High Court of Telangana passed a judgment on 11 April, 2023 stating that basic requirement of Article 14 is fairness in action by the State, and non- arbitrariness in essence and substance is the heart beat of fair play. It was stated in the case of Kancharla Karnakar vs The State Of Telangana (W.P. No. 1137 of 2023) which was passed by the single judge bench comprising of Surepalli Nanda
FACTS OF THE CASE:
The petitioner is engaged in the business of providing DIET contract services viz. procuring provision and stores, cooking/preparing, supply hygienic diet to the inpatients of the hospital. The petitioner conducts most of its works/contracts for and on behalf of Government agencies and the petitioner is solely dependent upon the income earned through it.The 4th respondent issued invited bids for providing DIET menu services. The selection and award of tender is through competitive bidding process and the contract is for a period of two years which can be extended by 4th respondent by not more than one year at its discretion. The tender is a two cover bases process. Cover I representing eligibility, technical and financial criteria as envisaged under Clause 4. Cover II representing financial bid. The evaluation of those tenderers who passed at Covern I stage only will be opened and evaluated.Clause 4 of the Tender Condition provides for Selection criteria. Sub Clause B of Clause 4 provides for criteria for evaluation of technical bid. In the Technical criteria a weightage of 50% is given to experience. Weightage 25% for IT returns and 25% for Annual Turnover. Only those bidder who score 70% marks will be qualified for financial bid. provided for persons belonging to sC community in DIET contracts. In category A hospital with less than 100 beds 20 are reserved for SCs out of 122 hospitals. Accordingly, in Category B hospitals with a bed strength of 100 and above and upto 500 beds 8 are reserved for SC community out of 53 hospitals. The Area Hospital Bhadrachalam, Bhadradri Kothagudem with 200 beds is one amongst the 8 and is exclusively reserved for SC community. The petitioner belongs to SC community and in the business of providing DIET services. As such the petitioner expected for award of bid. But the bid awarded to the 6th respondent, who is not eligible for the same. Therefore, the petitioner addressed letters to respondents 3 to 5, but there is no response from them. Hence, this writ petition.
JUDGEMENT OF THE CASE
The Writ Petition is allowed as prayed for and the proceedings of the 5th Respondent is set aside and the Respondents are directed to consider and pass appropriate orders awarding the Contract in favour of the Petitioner for supply of DIET menu services at Area Hospital, Bhadrachalam, Bhadradri Kothagudem District, 200 Beds within a period of two weeks from the date of receipt of the copy of the order, duly taking into consideration the fact that the Petitioner is the sole eligible tenderer and had been ignored by the Respondents intentionally only to favour the 6th Respondent malaifidely in clear violation of Sub-clause B of Clause 10 of the Tender Notification and also Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India. This Court however, is conscious of the fact that the patients should not suffer and therefore would however observe that the present order would be operational and be given effect to after a period of (2) weeks from the date of receipt of the copy of the order, to ensure that all the required services to the patients are provided by the respondents without any interuption.
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JUDGEMENT REVIEWED BY ROSHNI SABU, KERALA LAW ACADEMY LAW COLLEGE.