GUWAHATI, July 18 - The Gauhati High Court on Friday directed the Deori Autonomous Council to stall its tender process for inviting quotations from registered firms for the supply of items like cotton yarn and GCI sheets worth several crores of rupees.
The Court, in response to a writ petition, said, �Till the matter is finally decided, the tender process in question shall not be finalised and the amount in question shall not be released.�
In the writ petition that questioned the entire tender process, advocates Bijon Mahajan and S Borthakur, on behalf of the petitioner RP Deori and Bijoy Deori, had submitted before the Court that the advertisements were published in newspapers that do not have wide circulation, and that the notice inviting tender (NIT) was issued only in a few copies of the newspapers without incorporating it in other issues. The NIT was published on May 8, 2015.
Although it was initially contended by the authorities of the Council that the NIT was published in newspapers through the Directorate of Information and Public Relations, however, through an additional affidavit, it was later stated that although the principal secretary of the council issued the letter dated May 2, intimating the DIPR about the publication of the NIT in three newspapers, the person entrusted with the task wrongly delivered the letter to the newspapers in question instead of delivering them to the DIPR.
Advocate H Buragohain represented the autonomous council.
Significantly, in the NIT in question, the DIPR number is given as 475/15 which was identical to the number published in respect of another NIT of the Gauhati High Court dated May 8, 2015.
The Court has also directed representatives of all the three newspapers in question to appear for the next hearing on August 8. Besides, it has also served notice to the DIPR.
