JUDGMENT :

Sanjay Karol, J.

Following issues arise for consideration before this Court in this lis:

(i) Whether the process adopted or decision made of procuring educational material through a centralized process and short-listing the lowest tenderer is so arbitrary and irrational that the Court can say: the decision is such that no responsible authority acting reasonably and following relevant law could have reached?

(ii) Whether by undertaking such a process public interest is affected?

(iii) Whether the acts of Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Education, Govt. of Bihar, as also the Director, Primary Education, Govt. of Bihar-cum-Nodal Officer, FLN, in finalizing the policy for implementing the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FL&N) scheme by calling a tender can be said to be illegal?

(iv) Are the conditions laid down in the Request for Proposal (RFP) tailor-made to either oust the petitioners or favour others? If so, can such an action be said to be mala fide?

(v) Can the terms and conditions mentioned in the tender be deemed manifestly unreasonable and arbitrary?

(vi) Whether procurement of educational materials, such as textbooks etc., to be developed and published is the procurement of goods or services under the Bihar Finance (Amendment) Rules, 2005?

(vii) Whether successful bidders failed to fulfill the essential terms and conditions of the tender?

(viii) Whether Respondent's actions of short-listing the tenderer can be said to be an act of malice and favouritism, thereby vitiating such process in the direction of award of the tender?

(ix) Whether the act of Respondent No.11, namely Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd. (TCIL) in simultaneously issuing a tender for procuring components of the tender in question can be termed a consortium/joint venture in the commercial parlance?

National Perspective; Need For Imparting Education To The Children At The Basic Level

2. Highlighting the need for providing nutritious food and digitizing the process of education, vis-à-vis the children in Bihar, during the time of current Pandemic Covid-19, this Court vide judgment dated 18 September 2020 in CWJC No.7124 of 2020, titled as Court on its own motion on the basis of news item titled “School Shut, No Mid-Day Meal, Children In Bihar Village Back To Work Selling Scrap” versus The State of Bihar & Ors. had, inter alia, issued the following directions:-

“42. In light of the above, we direct for the State to consider, enforcing, to the extent possible:

a. Continue schemes like the Mid Day Meal Scheme and the Sarwa Shiksha Scheme to provide meals or ration as feasible along with textbooks and notebooks to government school students.

b. Ensure that statutory benefits under the Food Security Act are disbursed in a timely manner, and updated records are maintained for the same.

c. Monitor the nutritional health of children by leveraging the reach of Anganwadi workers, who can keep track of children's growth by recording the weight and height of children at regular intervals.

d. Work with the experts to procure and prepare digital lectures for students of all classes and age-groups.

e. Enhance the role of Anganwadi and NGO workers in every district, to help spread the message of the importance of continuing education via remote learning platforms. Parents to be educated, for ensuring the child's continuous engagement in education during the pandemic.

f. Install community-level television sets and distribution of radio sets, ensuring the increase of reach of remote learning platforms. Perhaps, at the community level, small batches of children can be shown lectures on televisions, while maintaining social distancing norms.

g. With mobile handset penetration and telephone penetration in the State of Bihar being greater than Television and radio set penetration, the concerned authorities to consider, devising and implementing an action plan t