PIYALI PICTURES Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners in this application under Article 226 of the Constitution are Messrs. Piyali Pictures, a partnership firm, and one Shri Ashim Dutta, a partner of that firm. The respondents to this application are the State of West Bengal. Shri Budhadev Bhattacharyya the Minister concerned, Deputy Secretary and the respondent No.4 Shri Dinesh Chandra Dey, in whose favour the impugned contract of distribution has been granted.

(2.) The subject matter of challenge in this application is the grant of distribution right of the picture produced by the State Government 'Ganadevata' based on the well known novel by the famous writer late Tarasankar Bandhyopadhyay. It appears that on the 8th March, 1978 there was a notification in the Amrita Bazar Patrika inviting sealed tenders from Bona fide film distributors for selection as distributor of the State Government's feature film 'Ganadevata'. The said invitation to tender stated, inter alia, as follows:

(3.) Pursuant to the said notification on or about the 20th March, 1978 the petitioner No.1 duly submitted the tender. In the said tender the said petitioner mentioned what it considered to be its experience as a distributor and further stated that its average annual turnover from distribution of Bengali pictures was more than Rs.20 lacs. The period of distribution offered was 10 years from the date of release or such period as the Producers would like them to be appointed and the region was all India. So far as for the budget, a schedule was attached and the rate of commission claimed was indicated to be 1 per cent of the building amount. The publicity budget indicated certain pre-release and certain post-release expenditure and also expenditure on booklets. It is not necessary for my present purpose to set out in detail the publicity budget which has been set out as an annexure to the tender that was submitted. A total sum of Rs.30,000/- was indicated as pre-release budget and a sum of Rs.1,215/- per week as post-release publicity budget. It was commented on behalf of the State Government as well as the respondent No.4 that the publicity offered was, in the context of the importance of the film to be distributed, inadequate to meet the proper requirement of proper publicity. As I said before, I am not concerned here to examine in detail these questions. It appears that on or about the 21st March, 1978 at about 3 P.M., according to the petitioners, the tenders were opened in the presence of the tenderers and their representatives and it transpired that the rate quoted by the petitioner No.1 was the lowest and according to the petitioners the tender submitted by the respondent No.4 did not comply with the tender requirements. The terms and conditions upon which the respondent No.4 submitted its tender would appear from the Annexure to the Supplementary affidavit of Shri Dinesh Chandra Dey affirmed on the 7th June, 1979. In the said letter dated the 17th March, 1978 the respondent No.4 stated, inter alia, as follows: - In this connection we may mention to your goodself that we feel, it is our bounden duty to co-operate with the present working class Government of the State which has come into power after long sufferings of the working class people in general during the last several years in their endeavour to ameliorate the condition of the common people of the State. Keeping this spirit of co-operation in mind, we place our services at the disposal of the Government for our appointment as distributor of the film 'Ganadevata' for the whole of India in the manner and conditions as may be desired and decided by the Government without any pre-conditions from our side. Please be rest assured that the exploitation and exhibition of the picture will be done by us in the best manner as possible in the trade. Necessary papers as required are sent herewith.? So far as the tender form is concerned, apart from giving certain experience of their past performance the respondent No.4 stated that the period of distribution right was to be fixed as considered by the Government of West Bengal and an outline scheme of expenditure as directed by the Government of West Bengal was also given. The respondent No.4 also stated in that tender form that the rate of commission was also to be fixed as considered by the Government of West Bengal. Thereafter, by a further letter dated July, 1978, the period of distribution was indicated to be 7 ?% years from the date of the first release of the picture and the rate of commission was indicated to be as follows: -