The court emphasized that the process adopted by the authorities should not be intended to favor someone, and there should be no mala fide or public interest affected for the impugned tender to be quashed.

JUDGMENT

V. Sujatha, J. - The Writ Petition came to be filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking the following relief:-

'....to issue Writ, Order or direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the respondents in issuing Tender Notification vide e-procurement Notice No.50/T1/2023 dated 02.02.2024 'Name of the Work: Printing and supply of Textbooks and Workbooks by procuring the paper by the bidders to the students studying in the State Syllabus in Government Management schools situated in the State of Andhra Pradesh for the academic year 2024-25' without considering the representation dated 09.01.2024 as illegal and arbitrary and violative of Article 14, 19 (1)(g) and 21 of the Constitution of India, consequently (a) to direct the 1st respondent to dispose of the representation dated 09.01.2024 by giving an opportunity of personal hearing to the petitioners, further (b) to quash the tender Notification vide e-procurement Notice No.50/T1/2023 dated 02.02.2024 'Name of the work: Printing and supply of Textbooks and workbooks by procuring the paper by the bidders to the students studying in the state Syllabus in Government management schools situated in the state of Andhra Pradesh for the academic year 2024-25', in the interest of justice and pass...'

2. The factual matrix in W.P. No. 3209 of 2024 is as follows:

Petitioner No.1 is a Society registered under the Provisions of the A.P. Societies Registration Act, 2001 and the other petitioner Nos.2 to 59 are its members. The Members of the petitioner No.1 Association are all Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Certificate Holders issued by the Central Government under the provisions of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Act, 2006 and engaged in the business of Web Offset Printing services.

3. The Government of A.P. called for Tenders for printing Text Books and Work Books (4 colours) etc. and the required paper for printing the text books and workbooks will be supplied by the Government. The turnover of the Members of the Petitioners Association would be around Rs. 50,00,000/- to Rs.1,50,00,000/- per annum. Up to 2014 the petitioners used to operate single colour equipment/machinery for the purpose of printing and the cost of the unit is about Rs.25,00,000/-. Subsequently, at the instance of the Government of A.P., the petitioners were directed to adopt colour upgradation, so they further invested about Rs.90,00,000/- per machine for the said purpose. Subsequently, for awarding of the printing work by the Government, the petitioners were directed to adopt technology upgradation in the year 2021, accordingly, they invested Rs.1 Crore per machine by borrowing amounts from the Financial Institutions.

4. The petitioners were engaged by the Government for the previous year 2023-24 and they have duly executed the Text Book and Work Books printing as entrusted by the Government. The bills due and payable by the Government with respect to printing of Text Books is around Rs.37,11,59,163/- and the bills payable for work books printing is Rs.9,99,95,380/-. Thus, a total amount of Rs.44,11,54,543/- is payable to the Members of the petitioner No.1 Association. Respondent No.2 - The Director, A.P. Government Text Book Press, issued a notification dated 19.01.2024 in the daily news paper notifying the draft conditions of "Notice inviting Tender through National Competitive Bidding" vide e- procurement notice No.50/T1/ 2023 dated .01.2024 and directed to submit the objections by the General Public/Entrepreneurs, to the Judge, Institution of Judicial Preview regarding the conditions of the Tender pertaining to work "Printing and supply of Textbooks and Workbooks to the students studying in the State Syllabus in Government management schools situated in the State of Andhra Pradesh for the academic year 2024- 25". As per the draft Tender Conditions, to participate in the tender process, one of the eligibility conditions is that the Tenderer