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It has been stated that "Bionol" is a cashew nut shell extract and oil based non-toxic insecticide composition and is also known by its generic name Cardol/Crdonol. The petitioner has claimed itself to be the sole manufacturer of Bionol by virtue of the licence issued to it and that the said product is marketed by it exclusively.

According to the petitioner, it is also registered as a Small Scale Industrial Unit under the Directorate of Cottage and Small Scale Industries, Government of West Bengal and the National Small Industries Corporation Ltd. and has in the meantime supplied the above produce to various reputed organizations in the country. Its product (Bionol) has also been approved to be exported to Germany by the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce.

5. The respondents No. 1 to 4 in their counter while endorsing the process to be valid and beyond reproach contended that the respondent No. 5 is the authorized distributor of Amit Biotech a registered manufacturer of Bio Psticides and Organic Manure. No comment, however, was offered to the averments that the respondent No. 5 had deposited three sealed samples of bionol along with its Bid documents. According to the answering respondents, the generic name of Bionol is Cardol/Cardonol and that the corrigendum was consciously issued so as to make the process largely participatory and to ensure the quality of the commodity sought to be purchased. They expressed ignorance of the claim that the petitioner was the sole manufacturer and distributor of Bionol. They affirmed that the tender of respondent No. 5 was accompanied by all requisite documents as per the tender conditions and that the contract was awarded to it following a careful scrutiny of the tender documents and the recommendations of the Tender Purchase Committee. They maintained that the generic composition cardol/cardonol is manufactured and distributed by many companies through out the Country and that the petitioner had no monopoly thereon. They stated that on the completion of the process it transpired that the respondent No. 5 was the lowest bider (L1) having quoted its offer at Rs. 548/- per litre, which was lower by Rs. 76/- than that of the petitioner (L2) at Rs. 624/- per litre. They branded the suit to be an endeavour of the petitioner to flout the tender process without valid reasons and disclosed that after the order of injunction was interfered with by the learned lower Appellate Court on 22.11.2006, the respondent No. 2 vide letter No. 1.11011/103(E) 2006-Q/682 dated 28.11.2006 issued the work order in favour of the respondent No. 5 asking it to supply 15000 liters of Cardol/Cardonol to the identified destinations within 10.1.2007. According to them, the respondent No. 5 duly supplied the required quantity of Cardol/ Cardonol to the stations specified. They questioned the maintainability of the writ petition as being barred by the principles of res-judicata and estoppel as well as laches and undue delay. They claimed that the samples of the product submitted by the petitioner and the respondent No. 5 had been sent for technical evaluation and both having been cleared by the concerned laboratory, the latter having been found to be most suitable considering amongst others the difference in rates was awarded the contract. The commodity involved having already been dispatched to the destinations, the answering respondents asserted that the petition deserved dismissal in limine.

(a) Generic name Cardol/Cardonol.

(b) 100% herbal preparation with active ingredient based on cashew extract.

(c) Should be ready to use compound consisting of active ingredient, emulsifier and solvent in water-soluble composition.

(d) Non-toxic to human and mammals. The letter dated 13.6.2006 disclosing the above has a reference of the letter No. MC/6004/05-06 dated 10.2.2006 of the petitioner Company. The corrigendum in the above terms followed thereafter on 20.6.2006. Noticeably the corrigendum replaced Bionol to be read as Cardol/Cardonol. The chemical composition of the product desired, however, remained as above. Visibly, therefore, there was no scope to interchange Bionol with Cardol/Cardonol after the corrigendum. 

  (a) pH of 10% AQ Solution             7.2
(b) Total Bio Mass                  6.95%
(c) Cardonol AB                    24.87%
(d) Moisture         2% (dictated as 87%)

Vividly the sample is different from the one referred to in the test report of the respondent No. 5's sample issued by the Test Man Laboratory (Annexure VIB to the writ petition). The letter dated 22.7.2002 of the Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswabidyalaya, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agronomy, West Bengal, addressed to M/s Amit Biotech is one of appreciation amongst others for "Terokil" (versatile bio-termiticide) an organic manure procured from it (M/s Amit Biotech) and used in several demonstrations. The text of Terokil accompanying the tender of the respondent No. 5 declares it to be 100%) Herbal Preparation from cashew shell extract used in ionic stickers and usuable as a versatile bio-termiticide/insecticide with the caution that it is a contact and stomach poison. The product is stated to contain cardinal at 25% E.C. The petitioner's tender on the other hand carried with it amongst others the manufacturers licence of insecticide issued by the Government of West Bengal, Department of Agriculture, Insecticide Licence Cell, Kolkata, amongst others of Bionol. The three samples were of its product nomenclatures bionol. The literature of the said article, as observed hereinabove, describe it to be an organic termiticide not harmful either to the environment or to human beings and mammals. The analysis Report of the Regional Research Laboratory, Jorhat, accompanying the tender certifies the sample to be Cashew Nut Shell extract containing 20.5. of Cardol. Several letters of commendation by various organizations and institutions over the said product also formed a part of its tender. Incidentally the other two tenderers namely M/s Bose International Pvt. Ltd. and M/s Bhattacharjya Export and Import Pvt. Ltd. also offered their products to be Bionol. This is intriguing in the face of the unrebutted plea of the petitioner to be the sole manufactures thereof. The official respondents, as a matter of fact, in their counter did not refute the said claim and plainly asserted that the corrigendum was published replacing the brand name Bionol by the generic name Cardol/Cardonol to make the process desirably participative without being dominated by a single supplier.