Law:

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Shahid Karim, J:- This petition under Article 199 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, lays a challenge to the procurement process undertaken by the respondent No.1, Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (PIA) and the consequent award of the contract to the respondent No.3, Pearl Continental Hotel, Lahore (PC Hotel) 2. The relevant facts are simple and are broadly admitted between the parties. As a backdrop it may be mentioned that the petitioner is a Company which offers flight catering services at various airports in Pakistan. It has been providing services since 2006. It has both ISO and Halal Certificates. These are not in dispute. From the contents of the petition, it can be gleaned that the respondent No.1/ PIA issued a tender in January, 2014 for flight catering services for which the petitioner submitted its bid and according to the learned counsel, the petitioner was awarded the contract for providing flight catering services which continued till the contract was terminated on 01.03.2016. 3. The learned counsel for the respondent No.1 does not take issue with the fact that the contract was awarded to the petitioner in the year 2014, however, the period during which the contract remained in operation is disputed between the parties. This fact will not have any bearing on the ultimate decision of this petition. The learned counsel for the petitioner has not dwelt upon the contract which was awarded in 2014 and has narrowed down his attack to the tendering process which was put into motion in March, 2015. 4. The PIA invited bids for the provision of "In-Flight Catering Services" in March, 2015 (the procurement process). The invitation of bids is annexed at pages 34 to 52 of the petition. The tender schedule which formed part of the bid document is attached at page 39 of the petition in which the bidders were required to provide their rates at which they will charge food. The technical bids were opened in March, 2015. The petitioner and PC Hotel qualified on these technical bids and the other bidders were declared as disqualified. None of the disqualified bidders has chosen to challenge the bidding process. The financial bid was…

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