More Stories

Informist, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025

 

NEW DELHI – The Delhi High Court Tuesday rejected Rotoffset Corp.'s plea seeking quashing of proprietary article certificates issued by Security Printing and Mining Corp. of India Ltd. to Rotatek Printing & Packaging Technologies S.L. in a tender for the design and supply of a customised excise adhesive label printing machine. The court rejected Rotoffset Corp's demand for a thorough investigation by the Central Vigilance Commission, Comptroller and Auditor General, and Central Bureau of Investigation into procurement transactions involving Rotatek-branded entities 2012 onwards. 

 

The high court said that Rotoffset Corp.'s plea was not maintainable against Security Printing, a wholly owned Schedule 'A' Miniratna Category-I company of the Government of India. Though the tender was floated on Mar. 7 and was in the knowledge of the petitioner, it chose not to challenge it or its conditions at that stage itself, said the court. Not only did the petitioner not challenge the conditions of the tender in time, it waited all along till the contract under the instant tender was awarded to Rotatek Printing, said the court.

 

The high court noted that Rotatek Printing has already started executing the project. The narration of relevant dates and facts unequivocally and unerringly point out to the fact that the petitioner lacks in due diligence and the challenge laid in the petition is unreasonably delayed, said the court. 

 

The petitioner had argued that Rotatek Printing and its previous avatars were shell companies and had indulged in large scale fraud, fabrication and manipulation of documents resulting in the contract being awarded to the latter. The bench of Chief Justice Devender Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said, "These are, in our humble opinion, not only disputed questions of facts, but hotly contested issues, which we are not required to advert to in view of the fact that it has already been held by us that the instant writ petition is not maintainable."

 

The petitioner, a micro, small and medium enterprise, was awarded a contract in 2022 by Security Printing for the design and supply of a customised excise adhesive label printing machine worth INR 175 million. The petitioner said that it began execution of the contract, complied with tender's enhanced technical specifications, and substantially completed the machine by January. However, despite Security Printing extending the delivery deadline to March, the contract was abruptly cancelled in January citing non-performance, without granting a hearing or issuing a reasoned order, said the petitioner. 

 

Soon after the cancellation, Security Printing issued proprietary article certificates in favour of a newly incorporated foreign company Rotatek Printing, which lacked legitimate original equipment manufacturer credentials, said the petitioner. The petitioner said that Rotatek Printing was a shell company with no manufacturing history, misleadingly projected as an original equipment manufacturer for servicing obsolete Rotatek machines. The petitioner claims that this procurement violates the General Financial Rules, bypasses competitive bidding, excludes capable Indian micro, small and medium enterprises and undermines the "Make in India" and "Atmanirbhar Bharat" policies.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.