The Patna High Court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed for a direction to the respondent(s) concerned to ensure enquiry regarding empanelment of a Firm under Bihar Gram Swaraj Yojna Society for providing training centre in all the districts of Bihar and cancel the empanelment of said Agency, as the same has been empanelled in collusion with the respondent-authorities, apart from the fact that the Agency does not have registration under the G.S.T Act.
It is contended on behalf of the petitioner that pursuant to a tender notice, applications were invited for hiring infrastructure with food and equipment necessary for conducting training programme in all the districts of the State of Bihar with certain criteria, including the Agency must have registration with G.S.T. department besides other eligibility criteria.
It is further contended that the private respondent was registered with G.S.T. on 07.09.2018 but was cancelled in the year 2020 and thus the private respondent does not fulfill the eligibility criteria and, on this ground alone, the selection of the private respondent is bad.
It is next contended that due to non registration with G.S.T. department the private respondent will cause financial loss to the State by way of tax evasion and moreover, in the process of selection of Agency, public fund is being utilized, so the process must be fair and all the parties/firms/agencies should be given equal opportunity in terms of NIT and the rules and regulations made therein.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice K. Vinod Chandran and Justice Harish Kumar noted that Public Interest Litigation is available for issues affecting the public at large, such as environmental concerns, human rights violations, corruption and matters impacting social justice. The very purpose behind the P.I.L. is to ensure justice to all and promoting the welfare of the people.
“From the materials available on record, apart from the lack of foundational facts, there is no material, much less, showing the interest of public is affected. The Government is the agency enjoined with utilization of public funds and collection of revenue. There is a full-fledged department to ensure due payment of taxes and a non-registration under the taxing statute does not absolve an entity engaged in taxable transactions from the tax payable and furthermore entails imposition of penalty”, the order reads.