IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction Appellate Side Present :- Hon’ble Justice Amrita Sinha WPA No. 5558 of 2025 M/s. IDL Explosives Limited & Ors.

Vs.

Union of India & Ors.

For the writ petitioners :- Mr. S. N. Mookherjee, Sr. Adv.

Mr. Shubrojyoti Mookherjee, Adv.

Mr. Neelesh Choudhury, Adv.

Ms. Anuradha Poddar, Adv.

For the UOI :- Mr. Indrajit Dasgupta, Adv.

Mr. Suryaneel Das, Adv.

For the respondent nos. 2 & 3 :- Mr. Ayan Poddar, Adv.

Mr. Soham Dutta, Adv. Ms. Khusboo Ruia, Adv.

Hearing concluded on :- 18.03.2025 Judgment on :- 10.04.2025 Amrita Sinha, J.:-

1. The order of ban of business passed by Coal India Limited (CIL) on 2nd July, 2024 was challenged by the petitioners in an earlier writ petition being no. WPA 1370 of 2025 which stood disposed of by the Court after hearing the parties on 20th January, 2025 directing the Chairman, CIL to decide upon the prayer of the petitioners seeking withdrawal or modification of the order of ban in accordance with the prevailing guidelines upon giving the petitioners an opportunity of hearing.

2. The prayer seeking review/ modification/ withdrawal of the order of ban was considered and rejected by the Chairman and the order of ban was upheld. The reasoned order passed by the Chairman, CIL on

27th February, 2025 is impugned in the instant writ petition.

3. The Chairman was of the opinion that the Local Content Certificate relied upon by the petitioners contained false declaration and the said certificate was issued on the basis of estimates and not on actual consumption as per the books of account of the company. All locations as mentioned in the Local Content Certificate were not considered. The purchase manual will not be applicable as there were more than three bidders in each category of the explosive products.

4. The petitioners participated in a tender process in response to a notice inviting tender-cum-e-auction dated 23rd July, 2021 for conclusion of running contracts and empanelment as reserve running contract holders for a period of two years from the date of issue of the running contract for supply of bulk explosives to all the subsidiary companies of CIL.

5. The tender document contained detailed instructions to bidders. In order to be eligible, a bidder has to fulfil the terms and conditions as mentioned under various sections of the tender document. Purchase preference is to be given under ‘Make in India’ policy of the Government of India.

6. As per the tender document ‘Class-I local supplier’ means, a supplier whose goods and/or services offered for procurement has Local Content equal to or more than 50%; ‘Local Content’ means the amount of value added in India which shall be the total value of the item procured (excluding net domestic indirect taxes) minus the value of imported content in the item (including all custom duties) as a proportion of the total value, in percent. Local Content will not include services such as transportation, insurance, installation, commissioning, training and after-sales services support like AMC/CMC etc. as local value addition.

7. Bidders offering imported products will fall under the category of non-

local supplier and they cannot claim themselves as Class-I local suppliers/Class-II local suppliers.

8. For the purpose of verification of the Local Content, the Class-I local supplier/Class-II local supplier is required to provide a certification from the statutory auditor or cost auditor of the company or from a practising cost accountant or practising chartered accountant giving the percentage of local content. The certificate ought to indicate the details of the locations where the local value addition is made and also UDIN number wherever amended by statutory bodies. The format of the certificate is enclosed as annexure to the tender document and the same is to be submitted by the company as a whole in respect of the offered product and uploaded in ‘COMMERCIAL DOCS’.

9. The instruction to bidders also mentions that wilful suppress