The Administration had invited such tenders till today, for grant of various works in the Government Medical College in Sector 32. A division bench of the court comprising Justice J.L. Gupta and Justice N.C. Khichi today granted the stay, while taking up the plea of certain contractors alleging "favouritism" in the process which gave rise to healthy competition.

The contractors in their petition had alleged that certain eligible contractors were not being issued tenders and some of the ineligible contractors were made qualified for the same, in the process.

They alleged that certain conditions in the pre-qualification of tenders favoured certain select contractors, whom the officials wanted to grant tenders. They further alleged that some other contractors who otherwise qualified their pre-qualification and were also recommended by the officers, were not considered by the committee constituted by the chief engineer.

The petitioners had alleged that the pre-qualification for the works in Sector 32 GMC were not done on merit and a "pick-and-choose" policy was being adopted. Earlier, the Capital Builders Association, in a meeting, had deplored the UT Engineering Department for their process of fixing pre-qualification tenders for contractors.