EDUCOMP DATAMATICS LIMITED Vs. DIRECTORATE OF EDUCATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Quashing of Clause 7.1(f) of Tender No.DE 45 (652)VE/CEP/2002-2002 (Annexure P.1) issued by the respondent has been sought by the petitioners in these petitions, which requires the bidders, bidding for implementation of the project, to have a turn over of at least Rs.20 crorea each year for the last three financial years up to 31.3.2002, inter alia, on the grounds being arbitrary and unreasonable and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

(2.) For every relevant academic year, respondent floats tender for handling Computer Education Project in various Government and Government aided Senior Secondary Schools in Delhi. The petitioners have given details of the terms and conditions of the earlier tenders, more particularly with respect to the requirement to the eligibility criteria in the tender bids of the bidder of having a turn over of at least Rs.2 crores each year for the last three financial years. It is urged that in the eligibility criteria in tender notices for the year 2000-2001 and 2661-2002 the condition was that the bidder should have a turn over of at least Rs.2 crores each year for the last three years but in the tender notice for the academic year 2002-2003 eligibility criteria has abruptly been changed saying:-

(3.) The petitioners have urged that the criteria has abruptly been changed arbitrarily for oblique motive solely with the intention to keep out small companies like the petitioners and to promote big companies. The condition for a bidder to have turn over of at least Rs.20 crores during the last three years is illegal, arbitrary, unreasonable and malafide. It is urged that the Directorate of Education in other States in the country are implementing similar kind of projects for various schools, the magnitude of which projects is even larger than the one undertaken by the respondent, where the qualifying turn over does not exceed Rs.2 crores. It was pleaded that on going through the other eligibility criteria in the tender in question, it will become apparent that there is no nexus with the objectives sought to be achieved, namely, the quality of computer education to be imparted to the students, which is of prime importance. Moreover, financial criteria fixed on the basis of turn over has not been stated to be a turn over in Computer Education Related Projects. It was accordingly submitted that laying down of such a criteria that bidder should have financial capacity to a particular extent without making it relabable to the project in question is irrelevant.