The Madras High Court has dismissed a plea seeking to stall the government tender process for the procurement of laptops for free distribution among students.
Noting that the tender pertains to a major social welfare scheme of the Tamil Nadu government and is intended to benefit lakhs of students, Justice M. Duraiswamy said, “Any delay in supplying the same would affect their future. The petitioner has filed the writ petition in his own vested interest and he cannot be allowed to hold the interest of lakhs of students to ransom.”
According to the petitioner, Mantra Industries Ltd, based in Mumbai, the tender for supply of laptops for the scheme has been awarded by the Electronic Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT) to Lenovo (India) Private Ltd, Bengaluru, and Hewlett-Packard India Sales Private Ltd in, Chennai.
Compliance claim
Claiming that the product supplied by the specified companies does not comply with the standards stipulated by the provisions of the tender document, the petitioner wanted the court to direct ELCOT to cancel the award granted to the companies, and instead, accept the bids submitted by persons whose technical bids fulfilled the qualifying criteria.
