The Supreme Court remained in Madhya Pradesh $350-crore tender to supply uniforms to over 5.2 million students of government-run primary and middle schools across the state after the local clothing association challenged the eligibility conditions in the bidding process.
The district bench comprising acting Chief Justice Vivek Russia and Justice Vinay Saraf, which heard the matter on Wednesday, directed the state government to file its response within a week. “Until then the tender in question will not be finalized,” the court said.
A petition has been filed by the Jabalpur Apparel Innovation and Manufacturing Association (JAIMA), challenging the “restrictive conditions” in the tender document.
Advocate Vimal Kant Jain, representing JAIMA, told the court that the eligibility criteria set by the Madhya Pradesh Textbook Corporation for the tender effectively excluded local industries.
Mandatory annual sales volume $700 crores for spinning mills $233 Crore Apparel Manufacturers, Production Capacity of Five Million Garments Annually, Previous Experience in Similar Business Worth $“Rs 105 lakh crore in the last three years, Micro, Medium and Small Enterprises (MSMEs), powerloom units, weavers, women self-help groups and small scale industries have been excluded from the process,” he said.
JAIMA Secretary Ajit Modi said the conditions were inconsistent with the Madhya Pradesh Store Procurement and Services Procurement Rules 2023, which are designed to ensure fair opportunities for small and medium enterprises and encourage local industries. “Instead, the standards appear to be designed to benefit a group of large out-of-state companies,” he added.
In an article published by HT on July 6, MSME Minister Chetan Kashyap said that the central procurement system was aimed at supporting industrialists and MSME traders, and that they would look into the concerns raised by MSME traders.
The report also quoted several SHG members and MSME garment unit owners who alleged that the government’s decision to withdraw school uniform making business from SHGs will impact thousands of livelihoods across the state.
School Education Minister Rao Uday Pratap Singh had earlier said that the new central mechanism will ensure uniform quality and timely delivery of school uniforms. “The women were facing problems with on-time supply and there were issues with the quality of the fabric used,” he said.
In Madhya Pradesh, more than 1.4 lakh women from SHGs were earlier trained by the Indian Institute of Management, Indore, in stitching and managing uniform supplies, a program launched by then Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in 2018.
