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Plea challenges bias against Indian computer products

The recent 'pro-MNCs' trend among the various departments of the central government, public sector undertakings, and nationalised banks in their obvious preference for computers manufactured by multinational corporations to the exclusion of indigenous products has been questioned in a public interest petition filed in the Supreme Court.

Based on information drawn from an article recently published in a leading financial daily from the capital, a the pro-MNC bias in the tenders floated by the instrumentalities of the state for the purchase of computers has been exposed. Chetan Chadha, a veteran economic journalist, has knocked on the doors of the country's highest court to curb this "anti-national" practice.

The petitioner has impleaded as respondents the Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, South Western Railway, Sahar Centre of the Indian Space Research Centre, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Reserve Bank of India, Bank of India, Gas Authority of India, and Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd, annexing the relevant portions of their tender notices which specifically advertised only for MNCs brands of computers.

The petition has appealed that the apex court declared the tenders of the respondents and other similar organisations as violative of Articles 14, 38, and 39 of the Constitution and quash such tenders.

The petitioner has sought a direction from the court in the nature of injunction to the respondents and all other public sector undertakings not to issue any such tenders in future excluding the Indian-made computers which are "most competitive quality products in preference to the MNCs brands."

According to Attar Singh, counsel for the petitioner, there are leading computer manufacturing companies in the country like Wipro, Zenith, Sterling, HCL, PCL, etc, which have highly capital intensive units and produce computers and software that have been marketed abroad in competition alongside the MNCs brands.

The counsel has submitted that if the Indian government and its instrumentalities exclude Indian products in preference to the MNCs brands, this would not only deter the indigenous electronic technological development and research, but also send the wrong signals to the foreign markets.

UNI