Delhi High Court
M/S Spss Mediline vs Union Of India Through Ministry Of ... on 14 October, 2022
Neutral Citation No: 2022/DHC/004407
$~23
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
% Date of Judgment: 14.10.2022
+ W.P.(C) 14575/2022 & CM APPL. 44652/2022 ( Stay)
M/S SPSS MEDILINE THROUGH ITS
PARTNER ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. Arush Bhandari, Advocate
versus
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. ..... Respondents
Through: Mr. Asheesh Jain, CGSC with Mr.
Keshav, Mr. Gaurav Kumar,
Advocate and Mr. Abhishek
Khanna, GP for R-1
Mr.Shailendra Sharma, Advocate
for R-2&3
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE GAURANG KANTH
GAURANG KANTH, J. (ORAL)
CM APPL. 44653/2022 (Exemption)
1. Exemption allowed, subject to all just exceptions.
2. Application stands disposed of.
W.P.(C) 14575/2022 & CM APPL. 44652/2022 ( Stay)
3. This writ petition has been filed seeking quashing of notice dated
28.09.2022 and order dated 09.10.2022 passed by respondent No.2
GeM Admin., Government E-Market Place.
4. Learned counsel for the petitioner states that his account has been
suspended for a period of sixty days i.e. from 09.10.2022 to
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08.12.2022, without affording any opportunity of hearing to the
petitioner. The impugned order notes that the petitioner registered
with benami / fake identity or credentials for product
Id No.5116877-68766535007-cat. Since the registration of benami /
fake products is a severe offence in accordance with the GeM
Incident Management Policy, the corporate authority had issued the
impugned order.
5. The impugned order dated 09.10.2022 passed by GeM,
Government E-Market Place reads as under:-
"Dear Sir/ Madam,
Please note that in accordance with the GeM
Incident Management policy and as decided by
Competent Authority with regard to incident number
1189877, the transactions from your GeM account have
been suspended for transaction for a period of 60 days
starting from 09-0ct-2022 and ending on 08-Dec-2022.
This is due to Registering with benami / fake identity or
credentials for Product id- 5116877-68766535007-cat
During such time your carted products (if any),
will be removed from cart(s) and you will not be able
to:
1) Enter into fresh transactions.
2) Upload products.
3) Participate in bids/RA. If already participated
in the ongoing bids, your bids/RA will be withdrawn.
4) Carted products will be taken out.
However, you will be able to complete the
transactions already finalized, such as delivery,
payment receipt etc.
Regards,
GeM Admin"
6. Learned counsel for the petitioner further submits that on
28.09.2022, the petitioner has received an email along with an
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attached Show Cause Notice wherein it was mentioned that
home_labo_me07211458_clin_fu00028570 has been registered with
a fake benami identity or credentials on GeM. Relevant portion of
aforesaid Show Cause Notice dated 28.09.2022 reads as under:-
"Dear Sir/Madam,
It has been reported to GeM vide (Incident
Number- 1189877) that the
home_labo_me07211458_clin_fu00028570 has not
been Registering with benami /fake identity or
credentials on GeM. Such act on your part is
considered as a serious GRAVE deviation as per
Incident Management Policy of GeM.
You are required to provide your reply/comments
within the initial 5 (five) calendar days of issue of this
notice, in case no response is received, then you will be
provided a final 5 (five) calendar days to provide your
reply/comments, failing which auto action will be taken
by the system against your account in accordance with
the IM policy.
Kindly note that upon receipt of this Notice you
are required to acknowledge the same on GeM portal.
It is to notify you that as per GeM GTC and GeM
Incident Management Policy, all of your Seller entities
using same PAN would be equally impacted by the
action taken against you for your default/deviation
under this incident. All your related entities under same
PAN are therefore put under notice with this Show
Cause Notice.
Regards,
GeM Admin"
7. Learned counsel further contends that the petitioner wrote several
emails and made phone calls seeking clarification from the office of
respondent No.2's but respondent No.2 had neither responded to
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any of the Emails nor gave any satisfactory response to the phone
calls. Details of the incident reflected in Annexure 13 shows that
the respondent had suspended the account by auto action system.
8. The learned counsel for the respondent appears on advance notice
and states that a quietus can be put to this litigation by deciding the
appeal filed by the petitioner within five working days.
9. Let the present petition be treated as representation and respondent
No.2 is directed to decide the representation and appeal filed by the
petitioner within a period of five working days.
10. In the meantime, till the representation and appeal filed by the
petitioner is decided, the impugned order dated 09.10.2022 passed
by respondent No.2 is stayed.
11. If aggrieved, the petitioner is at liberty to challenge the order passed
by the respondent No.2.
12. A copy of this order be given dasti under the signatures of the Court
Master.
13. With the aforesaid direction, the writ petition and pending
application stands disposed of.
GAURANG KANTH, J
OCTOBER 14, 2022
ms
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed By:RITU
Signing Date:20.10.2022
17:44:01
