LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has directed all procuring agencies in Punjab to publish the procurement details for the annual development plan within one month from the beginning of the fiscal year.
The court issued this order while hearing a petition filed by M/s G P Enterprises and others, challenging the Lahore Municipal Corporation (MCL) for combining different types of work in a single procurement project.
The court emphasized that procuring agencies should consider splitting large projects during the planning stage. If they choose to group them together in a single contract during tendering, they must provide justifications for the decision.
In its ruling, the court encouraged this approach as a best practice to prevent challenges in the procurement process. It clarified that the right to freedom of trade or business under the Constitution is not absolute and is subject to legal restrictions, which must be reasonable.
The court added that it is competent to review such restrictions based on reasonableness.
The court found no evidence suggesting that the tenders or any specific tender were tailored to favour a particular contractor. It noted that a large number of contractors were eligible to participate in the tenders, indicating that no favouritism or limitations on competition were evident.
The petitioners argued that they were deprived of the opportunity to participate in the procurement due to the MCL’s failure to split the tender into smaller lots. However, the court ruled that this was not grounds for discrimination, as the petitioners had not contested the contractor categorization system or applicable rules.
The MCL explained that the procurement was part of a special initiative by the Punjab government to improve the city’s amenities, which justified not splitting the projects. The court found this position supported by the documents presented.
The petitions were disposed of, and the court directed the office to send a copy of the judgment to the Managing Director of the Punjab Procurement Regulatory Authority for compliance.
