JUDGMENT : ACHINTYA MALLA BUJOR BARUA, J. 1. Heard Mr. G.N. Sahewalla, learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. D. Nath, learned Addl. Senior Govt. Advocate appearing for the State respondent. A Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) was issued by the Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Branch of Dhubri bearing No. DSG-10/2017/11 dated 6.4.2017 for the work "carrying/loading/unloading of allotted food grains, i.e., Rice under NFSA-2013 in 2(two) tier system-tier-1(from FCI Godown to 'GPSS/WCCS Godown) and tier-II (GPSS/WCCS Godown to FPS Dealer/Agent) for transportation and delivery upto F.P. Shop level." Pursuant to the said NIT, the petitioner along with five other bidders have submitted their bid documents. The bids were considered and deliberated in the minutes of the tendering committee meeting held on 9.5.2017 in the Office Chamber of the Addl. Deputy Commissioner, FCS & CA, Dhubri as per the said minutes, the bid of the petitioner was found to be non responsive for the reason that the labour registration certificate as required under the terms and condition No. 7 of the NIT was not submitted. From the said minutes, it is also revealed that bids of M/s. Assam Agencies, M/s. Saha Stores, Dhubri, M/s. Kiran Enterprise, Dhubri and M/s. Bharati Enterprises were also found to be non-responsive for different reasons as stated therein. But the technical committee found the bid of M/s. Uttam Kumar Saha, Dhubri to be responsive in all manner. 2. In the aforesaid circumstance, the question arises as to what was the nature of the labour registration certificate that was submitted by Uttam Kumar Saha, which was found to be acceptable by the authorities. From the records, it is revealed that the labour licence submitted by Uttam Kumar Saha is a licence granted to him by the Asstt. Labour Commissioner, Dhubri for doing certain work of construction and repairing of departmental works in the establishment of the Executive Engineer, PWD Dhubri. 3. The requirement of a labour licence flows from Clause-7 of the NIT, which is as follows:-- Terms and Conditions of Bids "7. The Bidder should have Labour Registration and EPF." 4. It is submitted by Mr. G.N. Sahewalla, learned Senior Counsel that the labour registration certificate contemplated under Clause-7 of the NIT would be a labour licence as contemplated under section 12 of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, in short Act of 1970. The Bidder should have Labour Registration and EPF." 4. It is submitted by Mr. G.N. Sahewalla, learned Senior Counsel that the labour registration certificate contemplated under Clause-7 of the NIT would be a labour licence as contemplated under section 12 of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, in short Act of 1970. Section 12 of the said Act of 1970 inter alia provides that no contractor to whom the Act applies shall undertake or execute any work through contract labour except under and in accordance with a licence issued in that behalf by the licensing officer. Rule 21 of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Assam Rules, 1971 provides the procedure for grant of a licence contemplated under section 12 of the Act of 1970. Rule 21 inter alia provides that every application by a contractor for the grant of a licence shall be made in triplicate, in Form-IV, to the licensing officer of the area in which the establishment, in relation to which he is the contractor, is located. Sub-Rule 2 of Rule 21 further provides that every such application shall be accompanied by a certificate of the principal employer in Form-V to the effect that the applicant has been employed by him as a contractor in relation to his establishment and that he undertakes to be bound by all the provisions of the Act and the Rules made thereunder in so far as the provisions are applicable to him as principal employer in respect of the employment of contract labour by the applicant. 5. A perusal of Form-IV indicates that the said application has to be submitted under the signature of the contractor, where the particulars of the principal employer are also required to be provided. Again Form-V is a certificate issued under the signature of the principal employer, which certifies that the said principal employer has engaged the applicant contractor as a contractor in his establishment. Going by the aforesaid provision of section 12 of the Act of 1970 and Rule 21, read with the contents of Form-IV and V of Assam Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Rules 1971, it is apparent that the labour licence referred in Clause-7 of the NIT would mean a labour licence granted under the provision of section 12 and Rule 21 as mentioned hereinabove. 6. 6. In other words, such labour licence has to be obtained by the relevant bidder only upon an application for licence being made by him, wherein, the particulars of the principal employer would be mentioned and further supported by a certificate from the principal employer that the principal employer proposes to engage such a contractor. 7. In view of such provision of section 12 and Rule 21, a bidder who intends to submit his bid pursuant to the NIT dated 6.4.2017 would not be in a position to submit the required labour registration certificate at the stage of submission of the concerned bid. But at the same time, as noticed in the minutes of the technical committee dated 9.5.2017, the labour registration certificate of M/s. Uttam Kumar Saha was accepted to be a valid registration certificate. A further perusal of the said labour registration certificate produced by Uttam Kumar Saha indicates that it is a labour licence granted to him by the Asstt. Labour Commissioner, Dhubri in respect of certain construction and repairing of departmental work in the establishment of Executive Engineer PWD, meaning thereby, that the tendering authorities have interpreted Clause-7 of the NIT to be such that any other prior labour registration certificate would also be acceptable to the authorities to be a satisfaction of the requirement of Clause-7 of the NIT. 8. Mr. D. Nath, learned Addl. Senior Govt. Advocate upon instruction stated that such a procedure had been adopted by the authorities in order to ascertain themselves that the concerned bidder has the capability to provide the required labour registration certificate for the purpose of utilizing it in the contract. If it is the view of the tendering authority that the requirement of Clause-7 of the NIT can be satisfied by a labour registration certificate in respect of any previous work undertaken by the bidder, such a procedure in the considered view of the Court has to be made equally applicable to all the bidders and it must also be made known to them that a labour registration certificate of any previous work undertaken would also be accepted. Otherwise, by a mere reading of the expression labour licence contained in Clause-7 of the NIT read with the concept of a labour licence as provided under section 12 of the Act of 1970 and Rule 21 of the 1971 Assam Rules would indicate that such a labour licence is granted under the said Act by following the procedure as indicated above. Further, it is also the stand of the state respondent authorities upon an instruction that the Office of the Deputy Commissioner, who had initiated the NIT is the principal employer in the instant case and the bidden who undertake the work to be done are the contractors. 9. Further an issue that has arisen is that Clause-2 of the NIT requires that the bidder should have an experience in Transportation of Rice under NFSA-13 and to that effect, an experience certificate from the respective Deputy Commissioner is required to be submitted. In the instant case the petitioner has experience of Transportation of Rice under NFSA in the district of Kamrup (M). Accordingly, the petitioner had applied for an experience certificate, but the Deputy Commissioner instead of issuing the certificate himself had delegated the Deputy Director of Food, Civil Supplies to issue the same. As the said certificate had been issued under the direction and delegation of the Deputy Commissioner, the respondent authorities shall construe such certificate to be a certificate issued by the Deputy Commissioner himself. 10. In the above premises, this Court is of the view that ends of justice would be met, if the bidders, who had not submitted labour registration certificate of any prior work but is in possession of such a certificate on the last date of submission of the tender, is allowed to submit a similar certificate, the same would satisfy the requirement of Article 14 as equal treatment would be given to all the bidders. 11. But however, it is provided that as a labour licence for the work as contemplated under the Act of 1970 and the Rules framed thereunder would also be required, the respondent authorities upon allotment of the work to the successful bidder shall have to follow the procedure prescribed therein for obtaining a licence for the work at hand. 11. But however, it is provided that as a labour licence for the work as contemplated under the Act of 1970 and the Rules framed thereunder would also be required, the respondent authorities upon allotment of the work to the successful bidder shall have to follow the procedure prescribed therein for obtaining a licence for the work at hand. In such view of the matter, this writ petition stands disposed of by providing that the writ petitioners shall also be allowed to submit a similar labour registration certificate if they had such a certificate on the last day of submission of the tender, and once the said certificate is produced, the respondent authorities would give a due consideration to the same and revisit the decision taken in the minutes dated 9.5.2017. In the event, the petitioner is unable to provide any such labour registration certificate or the certificate produced does not satisfy the requirement of being a labour registration certificate for any previous work, the authorities would be at liberty to take their own independent decision on the same. The labour registration certificate if any, shall be submitted by the petitioner within a period of seven days and thereafter within a period of another fifteen days, the authorities shall bring the tender to its logical end. Interim order, if any, passed earlier stands vacated. In view of the above, writ petition stands disposed of.