JUDGMENT :

Suman Shyam, J.

Heard Mr. Nilay Dutta, learned senior counsel assisted by Mr. N.N.B. Choudhury, learned counsel appearing for the writ petitioners in WP(C) No.1984/2019, Mr. K. N. Choudhury, learned senior counsel assisted by Mr. T. Deuri, learned counsel appearing for the writ petitioners in WP(C) No.2955/2019 and Mr. R. K. Nath, learned counsel appearing for the writ petitioners in WP(C) No.3819/2019. I have also heard Mr.D. Mazumdar, learned Additional Advocate General, Assam appearing for the official respondents and Mr. D. K. Mishra, learned senior counsel assisted by Mr.B. Prasad, learned counsel appearing for the respondent No.4 in WP(C) No.2955/2019.

2. There are three petitioners in W.P.(c) No 1984/2019 who are engaged in the business of tailoring and supply of school uniforms through their individual SSI units based in the state of Assam. The two writ petitioners in W.P. (c) No 2955/2019 are proprietorship firms engaged in the business of manufacturing garments and supply of school uniforms. The petitioners have their respective manufacturing units situated in the district of Kamrup at Guwahati, Assam. The three writ petitioners in W.P.(c)3819 of 2019 are also proprietorship firms engaged in the business of manufacturing garments and school uniforms. The writ petitioners are aggrieved by the eligibility condition incorporated in the Expression of Interest (EoI) dated 06.03.2019 issued by the respondent no 3 for supply of school uniforms in various schools in the State of Assam.

3. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (here-in-after referred to as the Act of 2009) was enacted by the Parliament so as to provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of 6 to 14 years. Aimed at universalization of primary education in a time bound manner, the Government of India had come out with a scheme viz. Sarva Shikhsa Abhiyan (SSA). SSA was a flagship scheme of the Government of India so as to ensure that free and compulsory education is available to children between 6 and 14 years, as a fundamental right. Likewise, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) was another centrally sponsored scheme of the Government of India for developing secondary education in public schools throughout India. Teacher Education (TE) was a scheme primarily aimed at equipping the teachers to discharge their functions more effectively by formulating procedures for developing their knowledge, skills, aptitude etc.

4. By subsuming the three aforementioned schemes, the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, Department of School Education and Literacy, New Delhi, had introduced a new scheme called "Samagra Shiksha" aimed at strengthening the school education sector in the country, from pre-school to Class-XII, on a mission mode. The Samgra Shiksha Scheme was launched in the year 2018-19 with the goal to improve the effectiveness of school education and to provide equal opportunities for schooling and equitable learning outcomes. It appears that for the state of Assam, the Mission Director, SSA, i.e. the respondent No.3, had been appointed as the Nodal agency to implement the scheme.

5. The scheme formulated under the Act of 2009 makes provision for providing school uniforms to the students. As such, the respondent No.3 had issued Expression of Interest [EoI. dated 06.03.2019 inviting offers for empanelment of vendors for supply of school uniforms in the various schools in Assam. The EoI indicates that the estimated number of students would be 37,23,700 and the ceiling for each set of uniform has been fixed at Rs 600/-. According to the official respondents, the purpose behind issuing the EoI is to prepare a panel of vendors so as to enable the respective School Management Committees (SMC) to place orders with them. It is their case that since, the Financial Management of Procureme