HON'BLE MR JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA W. P. No. 16358 of 2009 WEDNESDAY THE 19th DAYOF AUGUST, 2009 Between: Noble Printers and Binders ..... PETITIONER AND The Joint Collector and Chairman, District Purchase Committed And another .....RESPONDENT(S) O R D E R:- The petitioner asserts that in response to the Tender Notification dated 25.7.2009 issued by the respondents inviting tenders from eligible and experienced printers for printing and supply of School Health Cards and Modules of different sizes in the Primary, Upper Primary and High Schools under the control of the District Educational Officer, Adilabad, he submitted his tender document quoting the lowest price to the 2nd respondent on 3.8.2009 along with all relevant documents. Now it is his grievance that the respondents after opening the tenders, did not finalize his tender on the ground that he has not submitted the Income Tax Clearance and Sales Tax Clearance certificates, which according to the petitioner, is arbitrary and illegal. It is further stated that respondents are taking steps to issue order in favour of the highest tenderer. Hence, the petitioner filed the present writ petition seeking direction to the respondents to consider his tender schedule without reference to the production of the aforementioned Clearance Certificates. The learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that as per the provisions of Section 230 of the Income Tax Act, there is no necessity to furnish Income Tax Clearance Certificate by persons entering into commercial contracts, and therefore, the petitioner has not submitted the Clearance Certificates because the Income Tax Department will not furnish the same. He also contended that the Sales Tax Department will not issue Clearance Certificate on the ground that his turnover is less than Rs.5,00,000/-, as such there is no necessity to file Sales Tax Clearance Certificate, and prayed that the respondents may be directed to finalize the petitioner’s tender document and allot the tender to him. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner, the learned Government Pleader for Revenue appearing for the 1st respondent and the learned Government Pleader for Education appearing for the 2nd respondent and perused the material placed on record. The petitioner, in support of his argument that there is no necessity to produce Income Tax Clearance Certificate for submitting the tenders, placed reliance on the provisions of Section 230 of the Income-Tax Act which read as under: “Abolition of the requirement of obtaining Income-tax Clearance Certificate (ITCC) by persons entering into commercial contracts – With effect from 1.1.2003, no Income-tax Clearance Certificate shall be required to be furnished by any person while filing a tender for the purpose of obtaining commercial contracts. The Board, however, continued to receive several references from various quarters seeking clarification with respect to furnishing of Income-Tax Clearance Certificate at the time of bidding for contracts and in other situations. It is clarified that contractors are now not required to obtain Income-tax Clearance Certificate from the Income-tax Department and there is no need to furnish such certificate while submitting tenders of obtaining Commercial contracts. Further, it is also clear that Income-tax Clearance Certificate shall also not be required for an other purposes such as registration or renewal of registration of contractors, renewal of import / export licences, renewal of post licences and renewal of shipping licences. However, all such persons shall quote their Permanent Account Number in their tender or other relevant documents. It is reiterated that the Income-Tax Department will not issue any Income-tax Clearance Certificates for any of the above mentioned or similar purposes – Circular No.2/2004, dated 10.2.2004.” From a perusal of the above provision, it is clear that the petitioner need not submit Income-Tax certificate at the time of bidding for contracts because the Income-Tax Department will not issue any Income-Tax Clearance Certificates. The petitioner, to buttress his contention that there is no necessity to file Sales Tax Clearance Certificate as his turnover is less than Rs.5,00,000/- in a year, relied on the Notice issued by the Commercial Tax Officer, wherein it is indicated that as per the provisions contained in the A.P. Value Added Tax Act, the petitioner is not required to be registered under A.P. VAT Act, since his turnover relating to taxable good appears to be below Rs.5.00,000/- in the twelve months period ending 31.12.2005, hence the Sales Tax Department will not issue Clearance Certificate. In view of this, the petitioner submitted that he could not furnish the Clearance Certificate from the Sales Tax Department. These factual aspects are not controverted by the learned Standing Counsel for Education and the learned Government Pleader for Commercial Taxes. They, however, stated that tender documents were opened on 3.8.2009, and one Vijeta Graphics & Offset Printer, is the lowest tenderer and already the work order was issued in his favour for printing and supply of School Health Cards – Telugu, and the work allotted is nearing completion. Having regard to the fact that the tender documents were opened and the tender was also awarded in favour of third parties and the work allotted to the said tenderer would come to a close shortly, this Court, at this stage, cannot grant any relief as claimed by the petitioner. However, the 2nd respondent-District Educational Officer and the 1st respondent-Joint Collector and Chairman are directed to examine the issue as to whether there is any necessity of producing Clearing Certificates as mentioned in Condition No.8 of the Tender Schedule in future tender documents. With the above observation, this writ petition is disposed of. No costs. ______________ N.V.RAMANA, J 19th August, 2009 bcj