New Delhi, Aug 24 (PTI) A Hongkong-based company Monday approached the Delhi High Court challenging the enforcement of an order of the Central government imposing restrictions on bidders from countries sharing land border with India.

As per the July 23 order of Ministry of Finance, any bidder from such countries sharing land border with India will be eligible to bid in any procurement whether of goods, services (including consultancy services and non-consultancy services) or works (including turnkey projects) only if the bidder is registered with the competent authority.

Also Read | Arvind Kejriwal, After Donald Trump’s Plasma Therapy Announcement, Says ‘What Delhi Did Yesterday, US Does Today’.

The competent authority will be the Registration Committee constituted by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

Petitioner Schlumberger Asia Services Limited, a Hongkong registered company, said the July 23 order was not enforceable and also sought direction to the Central government to constitute a Registration Committee so that all the applications submitted for registration can be processed and it can then participate in the tenders issued by the ONGC.

Also Read | Karnataka Govt Revises Interstate Travel Guidelines, Stops Registration on Seva Sindhu Portal, Ends Mandatory Quarantine.

When the plea came up for hearing before a bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that the Registration Committee has been appointed on August 6 and the format for submitting the applications shall be finalised by Tuesday.

He submitted that the last date for both the tenders in question are being extended. The last date in first tender was July 29 and now stands extended to August 26 and the last date for the second tender was August 25 and it has been extended to August 31.

He also clarified that the last date in respect of the first tender is also going to be extended beyond August 26.

The bench, in its order, said “It is deemed appropriate to defer orders on the present petition to await further instructions not only on the aspect of the format that shall be recommended by the Registration Committee constituted in terms of the O M (Office Memorandum) dated July 23, but also with regard to the timeline within which the applications submitted by the parties shall be processed.”

The high court listed the matter for further hearing on August 27.

The firm, represented through senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul and lawyer Bishwajit Dubey, said the implementation of the government order against it without the necessary steps required to be taken by the government authorities and determination of application for registration is arbitrary, unreasonable and violative of provisions of the Constitution.

India shares land border with seven countries namely China, Pakistan, Bhutan, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Nepal and Bangladesh.

The plea said the exclusion of the petitioner firm from the tendering process will unfairly limit competition and the securement of the best price and will affect the fairness of the tender process and will be against public interest.

By its July 23 order the Government of India has amended the General Financial Rules 2017 to enable imposition of restrictions on bidders from countries which share a land border with India on grounds of defence of India, or matters directly or indirectly related thereto including national security, an official statement had said.

The Department of Expenditure has, under the said Rules, issued a detailed order on public procurement to strengthen the defence of India and national security, it had said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)