Judicial review is permissible in tender matters only to prevent arbitrariness; criteria should ensure fairness and cannot favor specific bidders without rational basis.

JUDGMENT :

HARISH TANDON, CJ.

1. The instant writ petition involves a pertinent issue relating to fixation of eligibility criteria of a turnover perceived by the petitioner to be arbitrary, whimsical and offends the core values of the constitutional rights encapsulated under Part III of the Constitution of India and is eroding the concept of “level playing field” in a commercial transaction. The turnover as imbibed into an eligibility criteria and assigned the marks, according to the petitioner, the same is discriminatory, arbitrary and tailored to favour a class of the selected suppliers/service providers and, therefore, actuated by malice and disturbs the core fabric of Articles 14, 19 (1)(g) and 21 of the Constitution of India.

2. The narration of the facts would bring clarity in determining the point so raised and the fixation of the turnover criteria in eligibility clause is inevitable. The petitioner claimed itself to be a supplier of dietary services / supply of cooked food with ancillary activities having possessed the relevant requisites statutory licences and engaged in providing such services in several medical colleges and hospitals in different corners of the State of Odisha. A tender was floated vide Request for Proposal (RFP) on 10^th June, 2025 by Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR), Burla, Sambalpur for Outsourcing of Diet Services (Dry, Liquid, Cooked) for Indoor Patients at Government Health Institution. The said RFP contains an exhaustive mechanism in the form of schedule of events in processing the tender, which includes a Pre-bid meeting with all the intending participants, which in fact was held on 25^th June, 2025 in the office of the Superintendent of VIMSAR, Burla. The last date of submission of the bid was fixed on 10^th June, 2025 and all such bids submitted by the intending participants shall be opened on 21^st July, 2025.

2.1. The Pre-bid meeting was invited for suggestions and/or objections to the terms and conditions embodied in the said RFP and it appears that several intending participants including the petitioner were raising a concern on Clause 5.2 relating to the Annual Average Turnover and the marks to be assigned with the maximum cap of 20. It is indicated therein that the participants having a turnover of less than Rs.9 crores shall not be awarded any mark, whereas the turnover ranging between Rs.9 crores to Rs.18 crores shall be awarded 10 marks and the turnover over Rs.18 crores shall be awarded 20 marks. The minutes of the proceeding of Pre-bid meeting in relation to the said RFP was discussed by the Committee in presence of the participating bidders and a clarification was made that since the said VIMSAR, Burla is a 1134 bedded referral hospital and, therefore, it is decided to select one experienced and financially sound firm, who can supply diet to the patients for 2 to 3 months without payment in emergency i.e. non-availability of funds. However, to give an opportunity to the aspiring bidders, the suggestions and request was further invited on or before 30^th June, 2025 so that the same may be discussed in a further meeting to be held on 1^st July, 2025.

2.2. The suggestions and/or request received from the different aspiring bidders including the petitioner was mainly focused on awarding the marks on the basis of an Annual Average Turnover of more than Rs.18 crores to be improper and discriminatory including the guidelines issued by the