The Orissa High Court has upheld Odisha’s eligibility conditions for a tender to procure 26,450 metric tonnes of maplitho paper for state textbooks, rejecting a supplier’s allegation that the requirements were arbitrary and designed to restrict competition.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Chittaranjan Dash dismissed the writ petition in its October 7 judgment. The court said tendering authorities have the discretion to frame eligibility conditions according to their specific requirements and that courts should intervene only when administrative decisions are shown to be arbitrary or motivated by mala fide intent.
The tender was floated by the Directorate of Textbook Production and Marketing on September 11 for 70 GSM maplitho reel paper with a watermark and a width of 84 centimetres. The technical bids were scheduled to open on October 8.
The original eligibility conditions required bidders to show experience in supplying maplitho virgin paper with a watermark in quantities equal to at least 60% of the tendered volume, or a minimum of 11,000 metric tonnes annually in each of the preceding three consecutive years. The supplies had to have been made to government or semi-government departments and organisations.
The petitioner argued that the watermark condition had no direct connection with textbook printing and would exclude otherwise capable suppliers. It also contended that the experience requirement was excessive and would restrict participation to a small group of vendors. Several prospective bidders raised similar objections during a pre-bid meeting.
Following deliberations on those objections, the authorities issued a corrigendum on September 30, reducing the minimum annual supply requirement from 11,000 metric tonnes to 10,000 metric tonnes. The court took note of the revision while examining the challenge and found no basis to invalidate either the eligibility conditions or the corrigendum.
In its observations, the bench said every administrative action does not warrant judicial interference and that courts must exercise caution when reviewing tender conditions. It held that an authority inviting bids could tailor the requirements to its operational needs, provided the conditions remained reasonable, rational and free from arbitrariness or mala fide intent.
The bench also rejected the argument that the condition should be struck down because similar requirements were not imposed in other states. It said the absence of an identical requirement elsewhere was not, by itself, sufficient grounds for judicial intervention in Odisha’s procurement process.
The ruling leaves the state’s textbook paper tender conditions in place. The immediate procurement process will proceed under the revised requirement of at least 10,000 metric tonnes of qualifying annual supply experience, subject to the tender’s scheduled procedures.
