BHARAT PARENTERALS LIMITED Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By way of this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, petitioners have prayed for following reliefs:-

(2.) Facts in brief as narrated in the Special Civil Application are that petitioner No.1 is a company registered under the provisions of the Indian Companies Act , 1956 and is being represented by its authorized person, i.e. petitioner No.2. Petitioner company is engaged in the manufacture, supply and sale of pharmaceutical products across the country over past 26 years. Petitioner No.1 had a tremendous growth track record and has been considered to be the best pharmaceutical company in India. Petitioner No.1 company has received best manufacturer SME since 5 years till the year 2022 from Times Group and co-sponsored with Ministry of MSME. Petitioner is having its own manufacturing facility with an ultramodern Quality Control Laboratory and is a well- equipped company in the manufacturing field of pharmaceuticals. Petitioner No.1 has GMP approval of the State. Plant has also been approved from foreign Drug Auhoroty like NAFDAC of Nigeria, FDB of Ghana, DPM of Ivory Coast, PMPB of Malawi and several other approvals from other countries. Product of the petitioner company was available even in foreign countries as well, as indicated in paragraph 2.2 of the Special Civil Application.

(3.) Respondent No.2 - Gujarat Medical Services Corporation Limited (for short "GMSCL') is a procuring agency of Government of Gujarat, which procures drugs, surgical items, etc. from different manufacturers and distributors for supply of such products to the Government hospitals throughout State of Gujarat. A monopoly has been created by the State in the field of procurement and supply of drugs and surgical items to the Government hospitals across the State. In furtherance of this function, respondent No.2 floated a tender bearing Tender Enquiry No.GMSCL/D-686/RC/2019-20 inviting for Tablet, Capsule, Injection and Miscellaneous other drugs items (64 items in number) in the month of December 2021. Offers were invited from reputed manufacturers for supply of such medicine drugs for a period of two years on rate contract basis. Said tender was floated with due date and time of submission of technical bid and commercial bid (online) prescribed as 12/1/2022 upto 1800 hours, due date for physical submission of technical supporting document inclusive of document was 13/1/2022 upto 1800 hours, whereas, due date and time for opening of tender bid (online) as 17/1/2022 at 1500 hours. Petitioner accordingly submitted its bid for four items, i.e. Item Code 1017 Amoxicillin Capsules IP 250 mg, Item Code 1403 Trimethoprime & Sulphamethoxazole 160 mg and 800 mg tablet, Item Code 2014 Atracurium Besylate Injection IP 10 mg/ ml and Item Code 2020 - Injection Bupivacaine HCL Anhydrous (Heavy (Spinal) (4 ml Amp). The Agency has confirmed the same by email communication and petitioner has submitted a bid submission report dtd. 12/1/2022.