ORDER:

The petitioner is a scrap dealer who sought to participate in the e-auction notified under an e-auction notice No.02SE/2022-23 dated 02.02.2023 for disposal of mild scrap material and machinery of the public work workshops, Sithanagaram on “as is where is” on weighment basis.

2. The petitioner was unable to participate in the said auction as he did not fulfil the criteria of the bidder being required to have a factory license and owning a scrap recycling industry with consent for operation issued by the Pollution Control Board or having a tie up with such industry. The petitioner has now challenged this condition. There was also a further requirement that the bidder should have satisfactorily completed disposal of mild steel scrap material and machinery of not less than Rs.5.94 crores in any one year within a block period of 10 years i.e, from 2012-13 to 2021-22.

3. The petitioner has now challenged both these conditions on the ground that the said conditions are arbitrary and have no relevance to the qualifications required for participating in such tenders. The petitioner also contends that the financial background of the bidder is also not an essential condition on which pr