The Calcutta High Court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed seeks for rejecting the tender which was called for by the West Bengal State Beverages Corporation Limited dated 18.8.2023.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice T. S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya noted from the notice inviting tender the tender process had commenced on 21.8.2023 and the date and time for opening the technical bid was fixed on 18.9.2023.
“At this distance of time the question of quashing a tender notification which has already been worked itself out does not arise.”
Therefore, the prayer sought for in the writ petition to quash the notice inviting tender dated 18.8.2023 cannot be granted and, therefore, such prayer stands rejected by the High Court.
The Bench took note of the submissions by the advocate for the petitioners, submitting that endeavour of the State is to protect the health of the citizens and indiscriminate opening of such retail outlets will be against the Constitution mandate, more particularly the salient features of the directive principles of State policy in the Constitution of India .
In this petition, the Bench said that it cannot take note of said submission because essentially what the learned advocate for the petitioners seeks to canvass is the policy which was awarded by the State Government. Therefore, if at all the petitioners are aggrieved, then the petitioners ought to question the policy in the manner known to law with adequate material and in the absence of sufficient pleadings and material in the petition such a larger relief cannot be gone into more particularly when there is no specific prayer sought for in the writ petition. Therefore, the prayer sought for in the present petition cannot be granted and the same stands rejected in the petition by the High Court.