SHC restrains education dept from terminating contracts for school desks

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday restrained the Sindh government, the Sindh Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (SPPRA) and others from cancelling or terminating the five contracts of over Rs3.79 billion pertaining to procurements of 258,000 dual desks for Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana, Mirpurkhas and Benazirabad region government schools till further orders.

The interim order came on a lawsuit filed by private contractors against the government notification with regard to the constitution of a high-powered committee to review the procurement process and submit its findings on the procedure, cost and quality of furniture.

The plaintiff counsel submitted that a public tender was floated for the procurement of furniture for government schools of the Hyderabad, Larkana, Sukkur, Mirpurkhas and Benazirabad regions. The counsel submitted that the petitioners were awarded tenders being as the lowest bidders in their respective lots.

They submitted that a malicious campaign had been launched by political parties on social, print and electronic media against the subject contracts, after which the provincial education ministry constituted a committee to review the procurement process of furniture already done by the central procurement committee for the years 2020-21 and 2021-22.

They also referred to a reported statement of the Sindh education minister who had said that the departmental committee had recommended the cancellation of the contractual contracts for the procurement of furniture and a notification to this effect would be issued.

The counsel submitted that the plaintiffs had participated in the subject contracts strictly in accordance with the Sindh Public Procurement Act and no illegality had been committed by them.

The SHC was informed that the plaintiffs had invested a huge amount on purchasing of the raw material and production of more than 50 per cent desks as per the contract and the delivery of the required desks shall be provided within the stipulated period under the contract.

They submitted that the proposed action on part of the government as reported in the media was patently illegal and unwarranted as no opportunity of hearing had been provided to them in respect of the subject five contracts by the education department, which was sheer violation of the Article 10-A of the constitution and principles of natural justice.

A single bench of the high court comprising Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, after a preliminary hearing of the lawsuit, issued notices to the Sindh advocate general, education department and SPPRA, and in the meantime restrained the defendants from the cancellation or termination of the subject contracts executed between the plaintiffs and the defendants with regard to the procurement of 258,000 dual desks for government schools.

The bench also restrained the defendants from taking any adverse or coercive action contrary to the terms and conditions of the five contracts. It is pertinent to mention that the provincial education & literacy department had remained unsuccessful in procuring desks for public schools during the past eight years, and according to a survey of the department’s Reform Support Unit, 1.6 million desks were currently required.

The special secretary education had earlier informed the high court in another matter pertaining to the procurement of school desks that every year Rs6.6 billion was allocated for the purpose. The secretary procurement committee said the issue was very serious because a majority of the functional schools lacked desks.

The high court had also expressed concern over the lack of schools desks in government schools and observed that if it was believed that a desk was meant for two students, it meant that 1.6 million students were forced to study sitting on the ground, which hurt the children’s dignity, even though it was a matter of record that there were many stakeholders in education that provided funds, including donors agencies.

The SHC had also directed the chief secretary, school education secretary and finance secretary to take special measures and submit a plan assuring that the issue would be addressed. The high court had also made observations in its order that it was expected that the government would provide desks to all the schools within two years by increasing the fund allocation under the relevant head in the upcoming budget.