Raj Kumar Mall vs The State Of West Bengal & Ors
2021 Latest Caselaw 6038 Cal

03-12-2021
 ct no. 13
  Sl.108
    sp
                          WPA 6536 of 2019
                                With
                           CAN 6 of 2019
                    (Old No. CAN 9545 of 2019)
                                with
                           CAN 7 of 2021
                           Raj Kumar Mall
                            -Versus-
                   The State of West Bengal & Ors.
                       (Via Video Conference)

             Mr. Deepan Kumar Sarkar,
             Mr. Ayush Jain,
             Ms. Ruchika Mall
                                             ...for the petitioner

             Mr. Samrat Sen, Sr. Adv.
             Mr. Amitava Mitra,
             Mr. Saikat Chatterjee
                                                 ....for the State
             Mr. Joydeep Kar, Sr. Adv.
                                     ....for the respondent no.4

Mr. Arkaprava Sen, Ms. Deboleena Ghosh, Mr. Rahul Kumar Singh, Mr. Tapajit Das ....for the respondents

Mr. Vinay Shraff ...Intervenor

In re: CAN 7 of 2021

CAN 7 of 2021 has been filed seeking

intervention of this Court in process of NIT dated

February 28, 2019 issued by the respondents

which is the subject matter of the original writ

petition being No. WPA 6536 of 2019. Urgency is

pleaded and early hearing is sought.

The grievance in the writ petition is that in

the NIT No 2/2019-20 for supply of LDPE/LLDPE

Black Polythene Tarpaulin Stitched and

Reinforced by Jute in Sheets, eligibility condition

has been specified which cannot be complied with

by the petitioner. It is submitted that this

particular requirement has been inserted to

exclude the writ petitioner from the tender

process.

Admittedly, the tender has been awarded for

a period of three years from the year 2019. It is

also submitted by counsel for the State that the

entire supply under the contract with the

successful tenderer has already completed all

supplies for the entire three years.

This Court notes that the argument, as

advanced by the petitioner was considered by the

Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of M/S

Michigan Rubber(I) Ltd vs State Of Karnataka

& Ors reported in (2012) 8 SCC 2016

By reference to series of earlier judgements

of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, it was held that

merely because a Tenderer cannot comply with a

particular condition of eligibility in an NIT, it

cannot be deemed that the State intended to

deprive or exclude any particular class of persons.

The State is entitled to play in the joints and

specify eligibility criteria as per the specification of

the goods that it seeks to procure.

Therefore, this Court is of the clear view

that the claim of the petitioner cannot be

entertained. Hence, the writ petition fails and shall

stand vacated.

In view of the above, CAN 7 of 2021 is

rendered infructuous. CAN 6 of 2019 shall also

stand disposed of without any orders.

All other pending applications shall stand

disposed of.

There shall be no other as to costs.

Urgent photostat certified copy of this

judgment, if applied for, be given to the parties upon

compliance of all formalities.

(Rajasekhar Mantha, J.)