High Court upholds changes to tendering system for food supply in North Karnataka

Bengaluru: The Kalaburagi bench of the Karnataka High Court has upheld the state government’s decision to modify the tendering system for supplying food articles to schools and colleges run by the Department of Backward Classes.

The changes, which include shifting from taluk-level to district-level tenders and extending the tender period from one year to two years, were deemed neither arbitrary nor unreasonable by Justice Suraj Govindaraj.

The ruling came as the court dismissed a batch of petitions filed by previous bidders who had contested the August 2024 tender notification. The petitioners argued that the earlier taluk-wise, one-year tender system allowed local contractors to participate easily, ensuring reduced transportation costs and competitive pricing. They claimed the new district-level system, combined with higher quality standards, effectively excluded smaller, local contractors.

The court examined various Apex Court judgements on the issue of tender and observed that the state took a policy decision considering the inadequacies of the taluk-level tendering system and to leverage the advantages of the district-level tendering system.

“Merely because some of the tenderers who are petitioners before this court would get disqualified would not make the tender arbitrary or unreasonable. Karnataka having 31 districts, there will be 31 tenders which would be floated, and the supply would be monitored at the district level. The tender documentation and the conditions being equally applicable to all the districts, there is no discrimination resulting out of the said tender documentation since the terms and conditions would be common for each and every district,” Justice Suraj Govindaraj
said.

The court further said, “The increase in the time period of tender per se would be in the benefit of the successful tenderer inasmuch as the successful tenderer would get two years’ time to recover any expenses or investment made by the tenderer and as such, taking into consideration length and duration of the tender, the participants could also furnish their bids taking into account the income that they may earn over a period of time. The increase of the term of the tender from one year to two years is also a policy decision taken by the state on the basis of expert reports.