ORDER :

Heard Mr. Bhargav Hansukar, learned counsel for the petitioner, assisted by Mr. Nikhil Kumar Agrawal, learned Advocate and Mr. Devendra Kumar Sinha, learned senior Advocate for the Railways, assisted by Mr. Anil Singh, Advocate.

2. The petitioner, which is a manufacturer and supplier of lifts / escalators and is a Class-A certified Electrical Contractor with various Governments, has challenged the Notice Inviting Tender issued by Respondent No. 4 for supply, installation, commissioning and maintenance of 10 lifts at different places in Samastipur Division on the ground that such notice is restrictive of the brands, which is neither permissible nor desirable.

3. It has been shown to this Court that the subject NIT contains a condition which entitles only specified brands / manufacturers of Lifts, namely, Otis, Kone, Mitsubishi, Schindler and Johnson Lifts from participating in the tender process. Though not specified in the subject NIT but by way of implication as the NIT clearly states that in terms of Railway Board’s letter dated 07.04.2015, only such makes / brands which are approved in Category-A list of buildings as defined in CPWD works Manual, 2014 would be acceptable fo