Murti Enterprises Vs. State of Gujarat

civil - contract - gujarat water supply and sewerage board act and articles 14 and 226 of constitution of india - writ petition pertains to eligibility for participation in tenders invited by public body called gujarat water supply and sewerage board constituted under provisions of act qua supply of hand pumps in so far as eligibility been confined to gujarat based manufacturer - condition of tender form confining eligibility to only gujarat based manufacturer arbitrary and violative of article 14 - respondent directed to process tenders for awarding contracts on basis that manufacturers outside state of gujarat as well as manufacturers within state eligible to get contract for supply of hand pump. - - the respondents are restrained from processing or finalizing the tenders received by the respondent-board pursuant to the said tender notice at annexure 'a'.the respondent-board is directed to process the tenders opened on 2.11.1999 which were invited pursuant to the interim order dated 30.8.1999 passed by this court in the present petition and to proceed further for awarding contracts on the basis that the manufacturers outside the state of gujarat as well as the manufacturers within the state of gujarat are eligible to get the contract for the supply of hand pump sets as per the new purchase policy contained in the body of the government resolution dated 23.9.1997 (except clause 6) as amended from time to time till 2.11.1999. it will be open to the respondent-board to consider whether the purchases of hand pumps made during pendency of this petition should be governed as per the directions contained in this judgment.order19. in view of the above discussion, this petition is allowed. condition no. 1 of tender form at annexure 'a' confining the eligibility to only the gujarat based manufacturers is held to be arbitrary and violative of article 14 of the constitution. the respondents are restrained from processing or finalizing the tenders received by the respondent-board pursuant to the said tender notice at annexure 'a'. the respondent-board is directed to process the tenders opened on 2.11.1999 which were invited pursuant to the interim order dated 30.8.1999 passed by this court in the present petition and to proceed further for awarding contracts on the basis that the manufacturers outside the state of gujarat as well as the manufacturers within the state of gujarat are eligible to get the contract for the supply of hand pump sets as per the new purchase policy contained in the body of the government resolution dated 23.9.1997 (except clause 6) as amended from time to time till 2.11.1999.it will be open to the respondent-board to consider whether the purchases of hand pumps made during pendency of this petition should be governed as per the directions contained in this judgment.at this stage, mr pahwa, learned counsel for respondent no. 6 prays for stay of operation of this judgment for some time in order to enable his client to have further recourse in accordance with law.the learned counsel for the petitioners opposes the request. the learned counsel for the respondent-board also opposes the request on the ground that the board is required to urgently purchase the hand pumps for installation in scarcity areas in the state of gujarat and that a large number of such pumps are required to be purchased immediately.in view of the above submissions, the request made on behalf of respondent no. 6 is rejected.