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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT HYDERABAD FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA AND THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH
RAMESH RANGANATHAN, U. DURGA PRASAD RAO, JJ.
State of Telangana, rep., by its Prl. Secretary, Women and Child Welfare Department, Telangana Secretariat & Others – Petitioner
Versus
M/s. Sri Venkateswara Industries, Mahabobnagar, Mahaboobnagar District, rep., by its Proprietor B. Damodar Reddy & Others – Respondent
Writ Appeal No. 751 of 2016 & W.P.M.P. No. 36043 of 2016 in W.P. No. 24599 of 2016
Decided On : 26-09-2016
Letters Patent Appeal – Clause 15 – Constitution of India, 1950 – Articles 14, 19(1)(g) and 226 – Tender notification – Tender process – Writ Petition was allowed even without giving the appellants herein an opportunity of filing a counter-affidavit, and in placing the facts which led to restricting eligibility, for participation in the tender notice, only to poultry farmers with NECC certification and in eliminating traders, such as the petitioners, from participating in the tender process. This submission of the Learned Government Pleader is well founded – Appeal against – Restricts eligibility only to poultry farmers/associations with National Egg Coordination Committee certification – Sought to the respondents to allow the petitioners to participate in the tender process by supplying, receiving, and considering the tender schedule submitted by the petitioners, after declaring them as eligible on par with the poultry farmers, without insisting on NECC certification – Held, laudable object is to serve farm fresh eggs within time to the beneficiaries of the Integrated Child Development Scheme, and thereby prevent infant and maternal mortality, reduce incidence of anaemia and malnutrition among pregnant women and lactating mothers, and of low birth weight babies. To achieve this object the Government believes that, among others, timely supply of farm fresh eggs should be ensured. Proximity of poultry farms to the centre is considered a means of achieving this object. The submission that such supplies can be effected at a lower cost only if poultry farmers have adequate transport facilities to ensure timely supply of eggs to the ICDS centres, and it cannot be said with certainty that traders with adequate transport facilities would not be able to supply quality eggs at a lower transport cost, cannot be said to be without merit. The fact, however, remains that the object of the entire exercise is only to procure farm fresh eggs, and to ensure its supply within time. This object can be achieved if eggs are procured from poultry farmers who have the wherewithal to supply the eggs, from their farms, within time. While this can possibly be achieved by procuring supplies from traders also, these are policy choices of the Government and, even if the view expressed by Sri D. Prakash Reddy, Learned Senior Counsel, is taken to be a possible view, no interference would be called for as the policy decision of the State Government does not offend the provisions of the Constitution including Part III thereof – Writ Petition dismissed and The Writ Appeal is allowed.
Ramesh Ranganathan, J.
1. This appeal, under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent, is preferred against the order passed by the Learned Single Judge in W.P. No.24599 of 2016 dated 29.07.2016. The learned Government Pleader, appearing on behalf of the Learned Additional Advocate-General, submits that the Writ Petition was allowed even without giving the appellants herein an opportunity of filing a counter-affidavit, and in placing the facts which led to restricting the eligibility, for participation in the tender notice dated 16.07.2016, only to poultry farmers with NECC certification and in eliminating traders, such as the petitioners, from participating in the tender process. This submission of the Learned Government Pleader is well founded. While we were initially inclined to set aside the order under appeal on the ground that the Writ Petition was allowed without the appellants herein (respondents in the Writ Petition) being given an opportunity to file their counter-affidavit, and restore the Writ Petition to file to be heard by the Learned Single Judge, both the Learned Government Pleader and Sri D. Prakash Reddy, Learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent-writ petitioners, would submit that, in view of the urgency in having the dispute adjudicated, we should hear the Writ Petition itself. The order under appeal is accordingly set aside, W.A.No.751 of 2016 is allowed and W.P.No.24599 of 2016 is restored to file, and is being disposed of by this order. The relief sought for in W.P.No.24599 of 2016 is to declare the action of the Project Director, District Women and Child Development Agency, Mahaboobnagar District (2nd respondent), in issuing e-tender notice dated 16.07.2016 inviting tenders, for supply of eggs to Anganwadi centres of 20 Integrated Child Development Scheme (“ICDS”) projects in Mahaboobnagar District, restricting eligibility only to poultry farmers/associations with NECC certification, and eliminating other suppliers/traders like the petitioners from participating in the tender process as illegal, arbitrary, unreasonable, unfair, discriminatory, and and in violation of Articles 14, 19(1)(g), and 21 of the Constitution of India. A consequential direction is sought to the respondents to allow the petitioners to participate in the tender process by supplying, receiving, and considering the tender schedule submitted by the petitioners, after declaring them as eligible on par with the poultry farmers, without insisting on NECC certification.
2. In the affidavit, filed in support of the Writ Petition, it is stated that the tender notification dated 16.07.2016, which restricts eligibility only to poultry farmers/associations with National Egg Coordination Committee (“NECC”) certification, and eliminates other suppliers/traders like the petitioners from participating in the tender process, is arbitrary and violative of Articles 14 and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India; the petitioners are engaged in the supply of eggs to various persons/firms, including to government bodies in Mahaboobnagar District, for the last several years; the petitioners have been supplying eggs to the Anganwadi Centres of 20 ICDS projects pursuant to the proceedings dated 15.02.2014; on expiry of the contract period on 31.12.2014, a notification was issued on 07.01.2015 for supply of eggs to the Anganwadi Centres of 20 ICDS projects, while restricting the entry to the poultry farmers with NECC certification alone; the petitioners questioned the same by filing W.P. No.533 of 2015, and obtained an interim order on 21.01.2015, whereby their tenders were directed to be received; by proceedings dated 09.12.2015 work orders, to supply eggs to the Anganwadi centres, were issued to them till the tender process resumed; they have been supplying eggs from January, 2016 onwards; the respondents, with a view to create a ground to prevent them from competing in the tender process, decided to issue a fresh tender notification
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