HC seeks TN’s view on plea to cancel bid for yellow lentil

Chennai: A commission agent has moved the Madras high court against a tender for procurement of Canadian yellow lentil for distribution through PDS in Tamil Nadu.
When the state govt has taken a policy decision to supply only Tur dal through PDS, the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC) has invited a bid for Canadian yellow lentil, which is against the policy decision of the state govt, M Arumugam said.The tender has the potential to cause a huge loss, granting an exorbitant profit margin of 25 per kg of Canadian yellow lentil and resulting in a loss exceeding 120 crore to the exchequer.
Opposing the plea, Advocate-General P S Raman submitted that it was the petitioner who moved a plea in 2023 seeking to add Canadian yellow lentil in the procurement process, but now he is challenging the same. Recording the submissions, the first bench of Acting Chief Justice D Krishnakumar and Justice P B Balaji directed TNCSC to file its counter and adjourned the hearing.
Representing the petitioner, advocate M Velmurugan submitted that by grouping two non-comparable dal varieties, whose market prices are different, under a single procurement category, TNCSC has acted in an arbitrary and mala fide manner while conducting the tender process, and the same is liable to be quashed. "Despite receiving representations highlighting the huge gap in the market price of Tur Dal and Canadian yellow lentil, by awarding the tender having the potential to cause a loss to the exchequer, TNCSC has failed to apply its mind," he said.
He further added that the issue of price benchmarking of two different dal varieties had also been raised by NGO Arappor Iyakkam.