Syed Kaleem Shah:
QUETTA: The Balochistan High Court BHC on Wednesday declared e-bidding essential for tenders worth more than rupees 5 crore. The court suspended a notification by the finance department on November 18 in this regard. A division bench of the BHC comprising Mr. Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar and Mr. Justice Iqbal Ahmed Kasi passed this order on a petition filed by senior lawyer Ishaq Nasar Advocate on behalf of the contractors association.
The court also directed the Chief Secretary Balochistan, Additional Chief Secretary (Development), Secretary of Finance and other concerned authorities to appear before the court and explain the November 18 notification in this respect.
Ishaq Nasir Advocate said that after the amendment of Section 11-A of Baluchistan Public Procurement Rules, 2014, the e-bidding process of projects estimated at Rs 5 crore and above has started from 1st July 2022 in order to improve governance, Management, transparency, accountability and quality of public procurement, goods and services can be improved, but Finance Department Baluchistan issued a notification number procurement 2-1/e-procurement/2022-23/854-797 FD on 18 November 2022.
As per the finance department’s notification e-bidding of 5 crore rupees and above was abolished and it was replaced by manual bidding and e-bidding for contracts up to 50 crore rupees and above this amount was kept as a condition of certain mafias instead of public interest. It is an attempt to benefit the blue-eyed contractors, the counsel for the construction association concluded.
