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IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA AT HYDERABAD
Surepalli Nanda, J.
M/s. Anjana Sravani Enterprises – Petitioner
Versus
The State of Telangana – Respondent
W.P. No. 42999 of 2022
Decided On : 10-03-2023
E-Tender - Supply of diet - Blacklisting and suspending services - Petition is filed to issue a Writ of Mandamus declaring action of respondent No.3 in blacklisting and suspending services of petitioner without looking into explanation submitted by petitioner as illegal, arbitrary and violative of principles of natural justice - Held, Court opines that fundamentals of fair play requires person concerned should be given an opportunity to represent his case before he is put on black list - Admittedly as borne on record explanation/reply to Office Memo had not been looked into or even considered at all and same amounts to denying reasonable opportunity to petitioner to putforth his case against proposed black listing of Petitioner in clear violation of principles of natural justice - Order impugned as borne on record clearly indicates fact that Petitioner's explanation/reply had not been considered at all by 3rd Respondent nor Petitioner had been provided a reasonable opportunity of hearing or putting forth Petitioner's case prior to passing impugned order - Petition allowed.
JUDGMENT :
Heard the Learned Counsel for the Petitioner and the learned Government Pleader for Medical and Health.
2. This Writ Petition is filed to issue a Writ of Mandamus declaring the action of respondent No.3 in blacklisting and suspending the services of the petitioner vide MemoNo.1511/ESI/HL/SNR/S1/2022 dated 24.11.2022 without looking into the explanation submitted by the petitioner as illegal, arbitrary and violative of principles of natural justice.
3. The case of the petitioner, in brief, is as follows:
a) Petitioner is a diet contractor and had participated in the e-Tender notice No.989/ESI/SNR/2022 dated 22.10.2022 for supply of Patient and Duty Doctors diet for the period from 16.04.2022 to 14.04.2023 and was declared as successful bidder and after inquiry, the contract was awarded to the petitioner for supply of diet as per the norms.
b) Petitioner received a memo from the office of the 3rd respondent vide Memo No.1280/ESI/HL/SNR/Stores dated 22.09.2022 stating that the experience certificate which was furnished by the petitioner during the e-tender was fake and called for explanation of the petitioner, along with original documents to be produced within 7 days. The petitioner submitted an explanation dated 30.09.2022 denying all allegations.
c) The 3rd respondent without considering the reply of the petitioner, issued the impugned memo i.e., Memo No.1511/ESI/HL/SNR/S1/2022 dated 24.11.2022 stating that in compliance to the DIMS order, petitioner’s name had been blacklisted and also the Diet Supply Services are suspended from 30.11.2022 and further directed to handover the utensils and other kitchen related material to the Kitchen Department. Hence, the Writ Petition.
4. The case of the respondents, in brief, is as follows:
a) The Director, IMS, Telangana had directed to terminate the Diet Contractor on basis of fake experience certificate and accordingly the Diet Service has been suspended.
b) The petitioner did not meet the mandatory 3 (Three) years’ experience criteria as stated in the e-Tender Diet Contract Terms and Conditions and the experience certificate submitted is also fake.
c) Only after the confirmation from MIMS, Vijayanagaram, A.P., DIMS had directed the 2nd respondent to take immediate action and also instructed to blacklist the agency through their memo issued vide Memo No.10560/P1/2021 dated 11.11.2022 and as per rules Diet Supply Services were suspended from 30.11.2022. Hence the Writ Petition are devoid of merits and the interim orders passed by this court in I.A. No. 1 of 2022 in W.P. No. 42999 of 2022 are to be dismissed.
PERUSED THE RECORD :
5. The order impugned dt. 24.11.2022 vide Memo No.1511/ESI/HL/SNR/S1/2022, of the 3rd Respondent (relevant portion) reads as under :
Further, M/s Anjana Sravani Enterprises; Hyderabad is hereby instructed to handover the kitchen utensils, steel plates and other material related to the kitchen department through Dietician to K.R.Vijay Kumar, Diet Contractor who stood (L2) in the e-tenders for patient Diet i.e., after serving Dinner to the in-patient and Duty Doctors on 30.11.2022.
6. The contents of DIMS Memo No.10560/P1/2021, dt. 11.11.2022, in particular, relevant portion reads as under :
This has got approval of the DIMS (FAC).”
7. The contents of the DIMS Memo 10560/P1/2021, dated 20.11.2022 issued by the o/o the
Point of law : Before proposing to pass a black listing order or debarring orders the parties had to be given hearing followed by an appropriate reasoned order.
The main legal point established in the judgment is the requirement of a valid, particularized, and unambiguous show-cause notice before blacklisting, and the need for fair hearing and proportionate ....
The main legal point established in the judgment is the requirement for a fair hearing, specific show cause notices, and proportionate punishment before imposing blacklisting in government contracts.
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