Madras HC stays TN’s new Rs 200 crore tender for procuring eggs

Justice R Mahadevan on hearing a batch of petitions challenging the tender notification issued on August 20, said, “The state shall file its counter by September 7, the petitioners can file their reply to the counter by September 12 and the court will hear the arguments on September 14. Till then as an interim measure the process shall be kept in abeyance till September 20.”

The petitioners had contended that the tender process worth Rs 200 crore was completely flawed as TN, with an ulterior motive, had given up the practice of calling for state-wide tender and instead opted for zone-wise tender by diving the State into six zones. This, they claimed it had conveniently resulted in tender size for each zone working out to less than Rs 50 crore in a bid to rule out the participation of bidders from other States.

While Advocate General Vijay Narayan on Tuesday had defended the new tender process as a bid by the State to promote local egg manufacturers, save on transportation costs and rule out the entry of middlemen, the counsels appearing for the petitioners had contended that it cannot be said that all zones possess egg manufacturers to supply such a huge quantum of eggs and hence reducing the transport costs and averting the entry of middle men is a myth. They also noted that the objective of the tender was to provide nutritious eggs to school children and not promote egg suppliers.