LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has admitted for regular hearing a petition challenging the exclusion of Chinese manufacturers in a tender for procurement of medical equipment issued by the Punjab government.

Opposing the petition on the ground of maintainability, the government’s lawyer said it was a policy matter and had been decided in accordance with the law. He further said the authorities concerned had excluded China origin manufacturers after receiving certain complaints against them.

Advocate Azhar Siddique, on behalf of the petitioner/company, argued that the action of the respondents was against the World Trade Organisation’s agreements of the government of Pakistan specifically, the Morocco Pakistan Round Negotiation agreements and others. He submitted that under Article 4 of the Constitution it was an inalienable right of the petitioner to be treated as per the law and no action detrimental to his property shall be taken except in accordance with the law.

The Solutions Engineering Pvt Ltd had filed the petition, seeking a direction for the Punjab Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) to review its order and also declare null and void the tender announced by the Punjab Employment and Social Security Institution (Pessi).

The counsel contended that the petitioner being a multinational Pakistan-based company having its setup in the UAE and China as well had been providing multi-disciplinary control engineering services, both nationally and globally since 2004.

He said the petitioner had supplied machines to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), trained the paramedics all over Pakistan and got an excellent performance certificate by the ‘infection hospital’ of Islamabad.

The counsel said the petitioner challenged the bidding regarding provision of equipment ie anesthesia ventilators for various hospitals for the year 2021-22 and the condition regarding manufacturer countries limited to the USA, Europe and Japan only by excluding the equipment of China. He said the procurement regulatory authority disposed of the application by the petitioner with vague directions.

Justice Jawad Hassan observed that the points raised in the petition needed consideration and sought replies from the respondents by Jan 19.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2022