The Peshawar High Court has annulled a multimillion-rupee medicine supply tender issued by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department, declaring it non-transparent and discriminatory. The court ruled that the alterations made in the tender conditions were a deliberate attempt to favor a particular company and ordered its immediate cancellation.
The case was heard by a two-member bench comprising Justice Arshad Ali and Justice Khurshid Iqbal, who presided over a petition related to the procurement of medicines for government hospitals.
During the hearing, the petitioner’s counsel, Advocate Shumail Ahmad Butt, informed the court that Frontier Dextose Limited — a company previously blacklisted for supplying fake and substandard medicines — had been awarded the tender despite its dubious track record. He argued that this was tantamount to endangering human lives and a gross violation of procurement laws.
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The counsel emphasized the need for strict checks and balances to ensure the supply of quality medicines to public hospitals. He alleged that tender conditions were manipulated to benefit the blacklisted company and presented laboratory reports confirming the company's involvement in the supply of counterfeit drugs.
After hearing the arguments, the court declared the tender null and void, stating that a key clause was deliberately omitted from the tender to give an undue advantage to the company in question. The court termed this a clear breach of transparency and an illegal act.
The Health Department was instructed to restart the procurement process from scratch while ensuring full transparency and fair competition. The court underscored that no form of corruption or favoritism in public-funded procurements would be tolerated, especially when it poses a direct risk to human lives.
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