The court ruled that a challenge to a tender clause can be deferred if the contractual work is already awarded, and the petition is dismissed as infructuous.

JUDGMENT

The petitioner is stated to be an ‘A’ Class Forest Contractor. The petitioner had responded to the tender at Ext.P2 and has sought to challenge clause 18E of Ext.P2 tender, which provides for imposition of penalty in the manner stated thereunder. The petitioner seeks to challenge clause

18E and also seeks a re-tender of the work.

2. Heard Sri. M. Rajendran Nair, the learned counsel for the petitioner, as well as Sri. T.P. Sajan, the learned Special Government Pleader, Forest.

3. Sri. T.P. Sajan, the learned Special Government Pleader, Forest, states that the work has already been awarded to a third party.

4. In that view of the matter, I am of the opinion that the prayers made by the petitioner in this writ petition do not require to be considered any further.

In such circumstances, while closing the writ petition as infructuous, I make it clear that the challenge against clause 18E of Ext.P2 tender is not considered in this writ petition and the same is left open for consideration in an appropriate case at a later stage.

Sd/-