The Supreme Court has allowed the Himachal Pradesh government to cancel the disputed tender related to the purchase of electronic point-of-sale (e-POS) devices for fair price shops.
Justice Surya Kant, writing his first judgment on Monday after assuming the post of Chief Justice, said that the state government has full right to withdraw the letter of intent (LOI) issued in favor of private company Oasis Cybernetics Private Limited.
Along with this, the top court canceled the order of Himachal Pradesh High Court of May 2024, in which the LOI was restored. The Supreme Court said in its decision that there were two main issues in this case. Whether the LOI issued on September 2, 2022 creates any binding rights in favor of the company, and whether the State’s decision to cancel it was arbitrary or against the principles of natural justice.
The bench concluded that the LOI had not, in any case, converted into a full-fledged contract. Therefore, its cancellation on June 6, 2023 was a ‘legitimate use of administrative discretion’ and there was no ground for interference.
Along with this, the top court directed the state government that it is free to issue a new tender related to the supply and maintenance of e-POS machines for fair price shops. Oasis company will also be able to participate in this as per the prescribed eligibility conditions.
The controversy was related to Himachal Pradesh’s plan to modernize the public distribution system, in which e-POS machines were to be equipped with features like Aadhaar-based biometrics, iris scanning etc.
