Latest News | HC Upholds Corrigendum Issued for Supply of Footwears to School Children

Chennai, Feb 23 (PTI) The Madras High Court has upheld a corrigendum issued by the Tamil Nadu Text Book and Educational Corporation for supply of foot-wear for school children worth several hundred crores of rupees for the year 2022-23.

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Justice Anita Sumath upheld the corrigendum issued by the Corporation recently, while dismissing a batch of writ petitions from Lehar Foot Wears Limited in Jaipur, Rajasthan and four others.

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The corrigendum stipulated an additional condition to the effect that the supplier/tenderer should have supplied the foot wears to any government or board or local body or University.

As the petitioners had not supplied to a government/Board/Local Body/University, they lost their eligibility as per the amended criterion and were thus, aggrieved. They contended that the amendment was motivated, unworkable, designed to benefit a small group of interested persons, besides being unreasonable and arbitrary.

Rejecting the contentions, the judge observed that the stand of the Corporation that the condition has been imposed only in the cases of high value contracts, being shoes and velcro sandals, is well received. The tabulation furnished reveals that the value of the tender for school bags, footwear and shoes are the highest, at figures of Rs 113.72 crore for 70.23 lakh pieces, Rs 50.36 crore for 25.89 lakh pieces and Rs.62 crores for 34.59 lakh pieces (all tentative), respectively.

"In my considered view, the imposition of the additional condition stands justified by the aforesaid intelligible differentia," the judge 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)