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Judgment
The points involved in both the cases are one and the same and as such they have been heard together and are being disposed of by this common order.
C.W.J.C. No. 5876 of 2003 has been filed by the Petitioner which is a company registered under the Indian Companies Act, for a direction to the Respondent-State to call it for negotiation for manufacture and wholesale supply of country made liquor in the zones of Sahabad and Muzaffarpur.
C.W.J.C. No. 6096 of 2003 has been filed by the Petitioner, which is a company registered under the Indian Companies Act, for a direction to the Respondent-State to consider its case for grant of exclusive privilege for manufacture and wholesale supply of spiced country liquor in the entire State of Bihar in pursuance of the tender notice invited in this regard.
The facts which are not in dispute are that a tender for grant of special/exclusive privilege for manufacture and wholesale supply of country liquor and spiced country liquor in the State of Bihar was invited by a Gazette notification dated 16.1.2002 for the period 1.4.2002 to 31.3.2005. The last date for submission of the tender papers was fixed as 27.2.2002. In pursuance of the said tender notice the Petitioners and other tenderers supplied their tender papers. The said documents were examined by the Scrutiny Committee constituted for the said purpose.
In the meantime, a Public Interest Litigation being C.W.J.C. No. 5020 of 2002 Dr. Ajay Kumar Singh v. State of Bihar and Ors. was filed in this Court alleging that huge sales-tax is due against the earlier licensees and they have submitted their tenders through proxy/benami firms/companies. It appears that in view of the matter being pending in this Court, a two member committee was constituted by the State Government, consisting of Additional Commissioner of Commercial Taxes and the Joint Commissioner of Excise to enquire into the allegation made in the aforesaid writ application. The Committee submitted a report, on the basis of which certain firms were declared to be proxy/benami. Though no stay was granted by this Court, the State Government was not taking any step in the settlement matter with the result that the existing licensees were allowed to continue to do their business.
One Sunil Kumar Singh filed C.W.J.C. No. 2756 of 2003 for a direction to the State Government to decide the matter of grant of privilege for manufacture and wholesale supply of country made liquor for the different zones in the State of Bihar. The said matter was disposed of on 3.4.2003. This Court, having noticed that no stay was granted by this Court and the matter was being unnecessarily postponed by the State, directed the State Government to take steps and make settlement within a period of one month from the date of the order. This Court in the said case also ordered that no settlement should be made to the person, who is defaulter or has not complied with the other conditions of the tender notice and if in future it is found that the settlement has been made to the defaulter then this Court, on the matter being brought to its notice, apart from interference with such settlement, will also direct for taking action against the erring officials.
It appears that the authorities wrongly interpreted the aforesaid order and widened the scope of enquiry and directed the tenderers to file fresh documents. The matter was brought to this Court by M.K. Enterprises and another by filing C.W.J.C. No. 4691 of 2003 and C.W.J.C. No. 4759 of 2003 and the matter was finally disposed of by this Court on 21.5.2003. This Court directed that in terms of the tender notice the relevant date to consider the eligibility of a tenderer is 27.2.2002 and on that date if any tenderer was not eligible then no order can be passed for grant of exclusive privilege in his favour. It is further mentioned that in some cases this Court before that date having taken note of the fact that the settlement was not being made, ordered for rectification of certain mistakes but in the case of M.K. Enterprises and another, this Court clearly held that in view of the direction issued by this Court to make settlement at the earliest, now eligibility is to be considered with regard to the relevant date i.e. 27.2.2002.
The case of the Petitioners in both the cases is that they have submitted tender papers fulfilling all the conditions, but the authorities are not inviting them for the purpose of settlement.
The stand of the State in C.W.J.C. No. 5876/2003 is that the Petitioner has applied for grant of special/exclusive privilege for manufacture and wholesale supply of country spirit for the year 2002-2005 for Sahabad and Muzaffarpur Zones and the tender papers were scrutinised by the Scrutiny Committee constituted by the Member, Board of Revenue and the Committee, after examining the tender papers, did not find the Petitioner eligible for negotiation in view of the fact that it does not fulfill condition No. 12 (Gha) of tender notice, under which in case of country spirit, the registered firms were required to submit sales tax clearance certificate from the Commercial Taxes Circle where they were registered and the new unregistered firms were expected to submit no objection certificate from Commercial Taxes Circle of place of starting of the business. The Petitioner had submitted sales tax clearance certificate, which was issued by the Commercial Taxes Officer, Hazaribagh. The Petitioner-Company is registered in any of the Commercial Taxes Circle within the State of Bihar and as the tender was for supply in State of Bihar, in terms of the tender notice, it has to be considered as a new firm, which is not registered in the State of Bihar. It has not submitted no objection certificate from the Commercial Taxes Circles of the applied zones i.e. Sahabad and Muzaffarpur.
Admittedly the Petitioner-firm of C.W.J.C. No. 5876/2003 is not registered within the State of Bihar under the Bihar Finance Act. So, in terms of section (sic-condition?) 12 (Gha) as the new firm, it was required to file no objection clearance certificate from the Commercial Taxes Circle where it was registered. Admittedly, it has not filed the said document and as such condition No. 12 (Gha) was not fulfilled and, therefore, on the relevant date, it was not eligible-for consideration and, in our view, the Respondents have rightly not called the Petitioner for negotiation for manufacture and wholesale supply of country made liquor of zones of Sahabad and Muzaffarpur.
In C.W.J.C. No. 6096/2003, the stand of the State is that in terms of condition No. 11 (Kha), the Petitioner-company, a new firm, was not registered as a dealer in any commercial taxes in the State of Bihar. It has admittedly applied for grant of exclusive privilege for manufacture and wholesale supply of spiced country liquor in the entire State of Bihar, but submitted no objection certificate from Patna City West Circle, whereas, it was required to file no objection certificates from all the places of applied zones. Thus, the Petitioner-firm has not complied with requirement of Condition No. 11 (Kha) and in that view of the matter, the State Government rightly did not call it for negotiation.
If is to be mentioned here that in the counter-affidavit filed on behalf of the State, it is specifically stated that now final decision on special/exclusive privilege has been taken and letters of grant have been issued in favour of eligible tenderers. The period of settlement being from 1.4.2002 to 31.3.2005, more than a year has passed and at this stage, no direction can be issued by this Court.
For the reasons aforementioned, we find no merit in both the writ applications and they are, accordingly, dismissed.