Police wrong to bar apparel maker from tender for uniforms: HC

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police dressThe Delhi High Court today told the city police that “the substratum” of its decision to debar an apparel making firm from the tender for supply of trousers, shirts and T-shirts for its personnel “is wrong”.

Delhi police had issued a show cause notice to Fashion Fusion as well as debarred it from the tender process after Mafatlal Industries Ltd said in a representation that it gave no letter certifying that the apparel making firm had material to supply the uniforms.

A letter or certificate from a mill owner was a mandatory requirement for being considered in the tender process.

Mafatlal, which has also participated in the tender, had also alleged that Fashion Fusion committed fraud as the letter was not signed by the authorised signatory.

A bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Siddharth Mridul, however, disagreed with the stand of the Delhi police as well as Mafatlal saying “neither the signature nor the letter are fake”.

“The very substratum of your decision to debar them is wrong. If Mafatlal was not a bidder then we can understand.

But when it is a bidder, then there is self-interest,” the bench said.

The court was also of the view that the “sanctity of the tender has been vitiated” and the Delhi police should scrap it.

The police, however, did not wish to scrap the tender as it urgently needed fresh uniforms, especially in view of the upcoming visit of US President Barack Obama in January 2015.

The court, thereafter, suggested that Fashion Fusion be allowed to submit a certificate from another mill owner.

The counsel for Delhi police sought time for instructions on whether the high court’s suggestion can be implemented and Fashion Fusion can be allowed to participate in the tender.

In view of the submission made by the counsel, the court listed the matter for further hearing on December 15.

Meanwhile, Mafatlal informed the court that Fashion Fusion never informed for which tender it was seeking the certificate.

The court was hearing a plea by Fashion Fusion which has contended that it had been providing the shirts and trousers to Delhi Police in the past but in this year’s tender there was the additional requirement of getting a certificate from a mill owner that the company has requisite material.

The mill owner, Mafatlal Industries, had issued the certificate. However, as it too was a competitor in the tender process, it had said that the certificate was forged and fake, Fashion Fusion has said in its plea.

Based on Mafatlal’s representation, the city police had barred the company from participating in the tender process.

According to the norms, all policemen from the rank of constables to inspectors, including the station house officers, are entitled to a new pair of shoes and clothes every two years.

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