Adi Dravidar Welfare Department's order quashed

“I feel that the Constitution is workable; it is flexible and it is strong enough to hold the country together both in peace time and in war time. Indeed, if I may say so, if things go wrong under the new Constitution the reason will not be that we had a bad Constitution. What we will have to say is that Man was vile"Babasaheb Dr.B.R.Ambedkar
The Madras High Court has quashed the orders of the Adi Dravidar Welfare Department allowing non-SC/ST contractors to participate in the tenders for all civil works of Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Housing and Development Corporation (TAHDCO).


Justice D. Hariparanthaman gave the ruling on a petition by TAHDCO Contractors Association and K. Raghavan and 13 others challenging the letter of the Principal Secretary of the Adi Dravidar Welfare Department, scrapping an earlier order (G.O. 132) entrusting all the construction works only to contractors belonging to SC/ST.

The Principal Secretary had directed TAHDCO to finalise the tenders for all the civil works as per the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders Act, 1998, and Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tender Rules, 2000.

The Judge said the Additional Advocate General was not able to explain as to why the Principal Secretary issued such a letter when Managing Director of the TAHDCO had made a request for calling tenders from non-SC/ST contractors, only when SC/ST people were not available.

Justice Hariparanthaman agreed with the submission of counsel for the SC/ST contractors that merely providing employment was not the contemplation of the Constitutional scheme and SC/ST community should be economically empowered and constitutional provision in Article 46 should be given effect to.

TAHDCO clarifies government's position

The State government was only examining a proposal of inviting contractors belonging to communities other than Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes to take up civil works as SC/ST contractors did not come forward to participate in tenders. Clarifying the government's position, a press release issued by the Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Housing and Development Corporation (TAHDCO) on Thursday stated that “this government did not take any decision to deny giving contracts to contractors of the Adi Dravidar community,” the release said.

When a review of civil works of the TAHDCO was carried out in November 2009, it was revealed that tenders were invited over 10 times for 406 works that covered the construction of additional school buildings, science laboratories, students' hostels and roads. These works were to be carried out since 2002-2003. Yet, no SC contractor took part in the tenders.

The total cost of the works was Rs. 120 crore.

As the works remained unimplemented for several years, the government could not issue fund utilisation certificates, because of which there was delay in getting funds.

It was under these circumstances that the proposal was being considered.

Before the TAHDCO could implement it, some persons moved the Madras High Court challenging this move, the release added.