By: Kamran Ali Shah
The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has suspended the tender for the supply of medicines to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government-run hospitals.
The court declared the multi-million rupee tender for the procurement of medicines by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department null and void, calling it non-transparent and an attempt to award it to a specific contractor.
The court clarified in its judgment that this practice is a violation of the principles of law, transparency and equality.
A division bench comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Dr. Khurshid Iqbal gave the verdict. The case was filed in the public interest by the petitioner Waqar Ahmed, and he was followed by Supreme Court lawyer Shamail Ahmed Butt Advocate.
According to the court judgment, an important clause in the terms of the tender given by the health department was deliberately deleted to benefit a specific company, and no legal or logical reason was given for this decision. The court said in its remarks that this practice is against the public interest and violates the principles of transparency in government procurement.
The judgment cited various judicial precedents of the Supreme Court and high courts and said that it is necessary to ensure complete transparency and impartiality in procurement from public funds.
The court ordered the Health Department to immediately cancel the tender and complete the procurement process of medicines again under legal procedures.
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