Ministries have to justify rejection of tenders

The Central government issued a memorandum to ministries to ensure parties are given valid reasons for rejecting tenders to avoid queue up before the courts for answers. The memorandum came after the High Court, in its order, said that the government had failed to follow a consistent policy in awarding and rejecting the tenders despite several reminders from the court which had led to unnecessary petitions “clogging the justice delivery system”.

The court noted that “almost every tender seemed to have been challenged in the court” in the last two years The court took this matter up after a writ petition challenged the Centre’s tender procedure, last month. “We are yet again faced with another petition where the grievance is that the petitioner’s bid disqualified without disclosing the reasons for the same, despite the petitioner having sought for reasons,” the court said.

The court said if the reasons of rejection were communicated, “two rounds of litigation can be avoided — the first one to elicit reasons from the concerned authorities and thereafter the second one when those reasons are assailed, if advised”.

The HC also asked the memorandum to be given adequate publicity by displaying it on the official website and sending periodic reminders to various departments and ministries.