JYOTIRMAY BHATTACHARYA,J. - (1.) Twenty-seven writ petitioners filed a writ petition on common cause. They are engaged in carrying on business of maintenance/ EPR/ completion and finishing services such as glazing, plastering, flooring, wall tailing, installation, electrical fittings, etc. and the number of workers in their establishments is below 20. They engaged sub-contractors for labour for execution of the said job. They provide service to the Headquarter, Commercial Works Engineers Military Engineer Services in Kolkata and other branches.
(2.) Pursuant to a notification and/or circular issued by the Director (Contractor) for Engineer-in-Chief on 6th November, 2015, an eligibility clause was inserted by the concerned authority in the notice inviting tender whereby submission of a scanned copy of permanent provident fund registration number was made compulsory for participating in the tender process.
(3.) The writ petitioners filed a writ petition challenging the notification and/or circular which issued by the Director of Contract for Engineer-in-Chief on 6th November, 2015. The text of the said notification and/or the circulation is set out hereunder: "During evaluation of 'T' bid (Cover-1) of e-tendering, uploading of copy of Provident Fund Code number in addition to other documents required shall be mandatory. It should be clearly mentioned in NIT that contractor in possession of this number shall be disqualified in 'T' bid evaluation and his finance bid shall be opened.";