Blacklisting cannot be for a permanent period and must adhere to the principles of natural justice.

ORDER :

Mohit Kumar Shah, J.

1. The present writ petition has been filed by the petitioners for quashing that part of the order dated 05.12.2019 passed by the Joint Secretary to the Government, Health Department, Government of Bihar, Patna and the order dated 16.12.2019 passed by the Civil Surgeon-cum-Chief Medical Officer, Gaya, whereby and whereunder the petitioners have been blacklisted permanently.

2. The brief facts of the case are that the petitioners are registered non-Government organization, registered under the Society Registration Act, 1960 and in pursuance to a tender issued by the District Health Society, Gaya pertaining to outsourcing of different kinds of work in different Government hospitals in the District of Gaya in the month of February, 2014, the petitioners had applied for grant of work to them and finally work order was issued to the petitioners and an agreement was entered into between the petitioners and the respondents in the year 2014. The petitioners are stated to have worked satisfactorily and considering their good work, the District Health Society, Gaya had extended the tenure of the petitioners, after expiry of their tenure on 30.06.2017 till the finalization of the process of fresh tender, however, it was subsequently found that the petitioners had committed irregularities and had received illegal payment in lieu of the services provided by them as also the generators provided by them were not adequate to provide uninterrupted supply to the hospitals without any voltage fluctuation. Thereafter, the Civil Surgeon-cum-Chief Medical Officer, Gaya had blacklisted the petitioner Nos. 1 and 2 for an indefinite period by an order dated 01.09.2018 which was challenged by the petitioner Nos. 1 and 2 by filing writ petitions bearing CWJC No. 19712 of 2018 and CWJC No. 20404 of 2018 and a coordinate Bench of this Hon'ble Court had set aside the order of blacklisting dated 01.09.2018 and had remanded the matter back to the Civil Surgeon-cum-Chief Medical Officer, Gaya for proceeding afresh, after giving an opportunity to the petitioners to place their case.

3. The learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that yet again the impugned orders dated 05.12.2019 and 16.12.2019, have been passed, firstly without issuing any show cause notice to the petitioners and secondly the petitioners have been blacklisted permanently which is in teeth of the law laid down by the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Kulja Industries Ltd. v. Western Telecom Project BSNL, reported in (2014) 14 SCC 731: (AIR 2014 SC 9); paragraph Nos. 25 to 29 whereof are reproduced hereinbelow:-

"25. Suffice it to say that "debarment" is recognised and often used as an effective method for disciplining deviant suppliers/contractors who may have committed acts of omission and commission or frauds including misrepresentations, falsification of records and other breaches of the regulations under which such contracts were allotted. What is notable is that the "debarment" is never permanent and the period of debarment would invariably depend upon the nature of the offence committed by the erring contractor.

26. In the case at hand according to the respondent BSNL, the appellant had fraudulently withdrawn a huge amount of money which was not due to it in collusion and conspiracy with the officials of the respondent Corporation. Even so permanent debarment from future contracts for all times to come may sound too harsh and heavy a punishment to be considered reasonable especially when (a) the appellant is supplying bulk of its manufactured products to the respondent BSNL, and (b) the excess amount received by it has already been paid back.

27. The next question then is whether this Court ought to itself determine the time period for which the appellant should be blacklisted or remit the matter back to the authority to do so having regard to the attendant facts and circumstances.

28. A remand back to the competent authority has appealed to us to be a more