Hurdles for distribution of smart driving licences cleared
The Tender Evaluation Committee (TEC) has given reasons for reaching the conclusion either for accepting or rejecting the tenders.
Chennai: Legal hurdles has been cleared for distribution of smart card based driving licenses and registration certificates for vehicles as the Madras High Court upheld a State government tender awarded to a private firm.
While dismissing the writ petitions from Smart Chip Limited and Madras Security Printers Private Limited challenging the award the bench comprising Justices Huluwadi G Ramesh and RMT Teekaa Raman upheld the award to Bon Ton Softwares Private Limited for preparation and supply of smart card based driving licences and registration certificates for vehicles for five years from 2013.
The petitioners sought to quash the notification of the state government inviting tenders for preparation and supply of smart card based driving licence and registration certificate on BOOT model for five years in view of the delay caused in evaluating the tenders. It violated the provisions of the TN Transparency in Tender Act, 1998 and Rules, 2000, they stated. Hence, they prayed for a direction to the government to issue a fresh tender.
The bench pointed out neither any mala fide intention has been attributed to the tender conditions nor has it been submitted that the conditions are framed to favour a particular tenderer. All the tenderers, with open eyes, participated in the tender process. The Tender Evaluation Committee (TEC) has given reasons for reaching the conclusion either for accepting or rejecting the tenders.
The Committee has gone into each and every aspect of the tender conditions in detail with regard to each and every tenderer and has given its expert opinion.
That being the case, it is against the well accepted judicial precedents that the court should not enter into the arena of experts by importing its view to that of the experts and it is always better left to the experts to decide in that particular sphere, the bench said.
Dismissing the petitions, the bench said this court categorically holds that judicial review in such a scenario is not warranted in the facts and circumstances of the case.