News - Court of Appeal

The petition filed to stay the awarding of a tender for food and essential supplies to the Sri Lankan Army was refused by the Court of Appeal on Wednesday.

The petitioner S.M.A.Ameez Brothers (Pvt) Ltd of Bandarawela cited the Army Commander, Secretary to Treasury and chairman, Standing Cabinet Appointed Tender Board (SCATB) for procurement of essential items for Government institutions, S.P. Divaratne, Highways Ministry Secretary and member of SCATB, S.Amarasekera, Education Ministry Secretary and member of SCATB, Ariyaratne Hewage and nine others as respondents.

The petitioner is a supplier of essential food items and consumer goods, inter alia, to the Army, Air Force and the Navy. The petitioner said he had paid a non-refundable deposit and obtained the pre-qualifications forms for the tender on or about February 2006. He said he paid a non-refundable deposit and submitted the tender documents. He alleged that the tender issued to the 8th respondent Wickramaratnes (Pvt) Ltd. was not in keeping with the conditions of the tender. The conditions state that if the rates offered are unrealistic and low prices are quoted for important and critical items, the tenderer would be asked to prove to the satisfaction of the SCATB and the Standing Cabinet Appointed Technical Evaluation Committee (SCATEC) how he could supply the particular item at that rate and if the clarification given was unacceptable, the tender could be rejected.

The petitioner states that low quotations were given simply to obtain the tender. In the national interest and that of the Sri Lanka Army the tenders issued should be scrutinized more carefully by the respective Boards, he said.

The Justices of the Court of Appeal K.Sripavan and Sisira de Abrew said the question arose for consideration whether the writ would compel the second to seventh respondents to evaluate the tenders in compliance with the tender conditions. The general rule of such a writ is to compel a public authority to do its duty.

The stay order was refused by the Court.

Romesh De Silva P.C. with N.R. Sivendran appeared for the petitioner.Attorney Sanjeeva Jayawardena with Rajeev Amarasuriya appeared for the eighth respondent.