MAHENDRA KUMAR MOHANTY Vs. COLLECTOR KHORDA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE writ petitioner herein has filed the present writ application seeking a direction to quash the entire tender process vide Tender Call Notice No. 3587/sw dated 29-3-2007 under Annexure 1 issued by the Sub-Collector, Bhubaneswar and has prayed to direct the opposite parties to publish the tender call notice once again by giving adequate wide publicity in newspapers and to direct the opposite parties to permit all the eligible persons to participate in the tender process and also to quash the sitpulation of residence in the same Block as contained in condition No. 2 under Annexure 1 as according to the petitioner the same is in violation of Article 19 of the Constitution of India.

(2.) MS. Rath, learned counsel for the petitioner essentially raised the following two contentions :

(3.) MS. Rath, in support of her contentions noted hereinabove submitted that the impugned tender call notice dated 29-3-2007 was merely prepared and shown in the official records to have been published. She further submitted that the petitioner on further enquiry came to learn that no publication has been made in any newspaper and the said notice was merely forwarded to certain officers with a request to them for wide publicity. Thereafter though the copies of the tender call notice were forwarded late to various authorities for wide publication, but no advertisement was made in the newspaper. It is further submitted that the District information and Public Relation Officer, khurda (in short 'dipro') had received the tender call notice only on 2nd April, 2007, whereas the date of tender was fixed from 2-4-2007 to 6-4-2007, as there has been no effective publicity at all of the tender call notice.