The Madras High Court on Friday dismissed a public interest litigation petition filed against a tender floated by the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation on June 29 for procuring around 1 lakh child healthcare kits to be distributed by the State government under the Amma baby care scheme.
A Division Bench of Justices M. Venugopal and M. Nirmal Kumar refused to entertain the case at the admission stage itself after Advocate General Vijay Narayan contended that the petitioner A. Mohammed Rabik had no locus standi to question a tender when he was not one of the participants in the process.
‘Typographical error’
It was also brought to the court’s notice that the petitioner, in his affidavit, had identified himself to be a practising advocate, who was involved in the real estate business.
“If he is into real estate business, he cannot be a practising advocate. It calls for disciplinary action by the Bar Council,” the AG said.
Immediately, the petitioner’s counsel replied that it was a “typographical error” and struck down the words ‘practising advocate’ from the affidavit.
The Bench, said, even otherwise, the petition was not maintainable since a public interest litigation could not be entertained on contractual matters.
