HC quashes midday meal tender condition

Terms AAP govt order ‘ arbitrary’, ‘ unreasonable

The Delhi high court on Wednesday quashed the Delhi government’s eligibility condition related to average annual turnover for NGOs seeking tender of the midday cooked meal scheme, terming it as “arbitrary” and “unreasonable”. The court directed the government to appropriately rework the eligibility condition ( of possessing an average annual turnover of ` 3 crore for the preceding 3 years) and other minimum requirements to enable wider participation of NGOs.

A two- judge bench of Justices S. Ravindra Bhat and A. K. Chawla said, “This court is of the opinion that the impugned eligibility condition is arbitrary and unreasonable, and is accordingly quashed.”

The court’s order came on a petition by four NGOs challenging the tender condition formulated by the Delhi government while inviting bids for the mid- day cooked meals scheme.

The NGOs had alleged that the eligibility condition of a minimum threshold of ` 3 crore average financial turnover, during the previous three years, was arbitrary.

The petitioners said they were voluntary NGOs formed between 1995 and 2006 and were ISO certified agencies and have been providing services to the Delhi government in the past by supplying midday meals to children studying in its schools. They had said the mandate of the guidelines was to promote charitable organisations only, which were willing to work on a no- profit basis. The scheme of supplying middaymeal was a benevolent scheme aimed at providing nutritional hot cooked meal to poor children studying in government and aided schools or institutions.

The petitioners said had said that by incorporating the pre- qualification criteria, the essence of the scheme to associate with voluntary organisations has been violated and commercialisation was being promoted and it was highly improbable to believe that an NGO having experience of five years could have a turnover of ` 3 crore average annually.

The Delhi government’s counsel had submitted that the re- modelling of the clusters meant that under the request for proposal issued by the Directorate of Education, each successful bidder had to supply to a larger group or cluster- with a minimum student size of 35,000.

◗ The NGOs had alleged that the eligibility condition of a minimum threshold of ` 3cr average financial turnover, during the previous three years, was arbitrary