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Thaimaman Thanga Mothiram scheme: Madras HC dismisses challenge to gold ring contract awarded to Joyalukkas, Kalyan Jewellers

Madras HC dismisses PIL challenging gold ring contract awarded to Joyalukkas and Kalyan Jewellers under Tamil Nadu's maternal scheme.

Thaimaman Thanga Mothiram scheme: Madras HC dismisses challenge to gold ring contract awarded to Joyalukkas, Kalyan Jewellers
Image used for representation
Image used for representation | Photo Credit: Getty Images
The Madras High Court on Thursday (September 10, 2026) dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition that had challenged the award of (Maternal Uncle Gold Ring Scheme).

Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan refused to entertain the PIL petition filed by goldsmith G. Raj of Chennai and said that they shall pass a detailed order in the course of the day giving elaborate reasons for the dismissal. During the course of the hearing, the judges said that the State would only stand to gain if the two jewellers had agreed to supply the gold rings at a low cost.

Image from article: Thaimaman Thanga Mothiram scheme: Madras HC dismisses challenge to gold ring contract awarded to Joyalukkas, K…
Though the petitioner had contended that the rate at which the two jewellers had agreed to supply the gold rings was abnormally low and that it would be commercially not feasible to honour the obligation at such a negligible price, the judges said that it was purely a business decision taken by the individual jewellers depending upon the gold stocks that they possessed and their willingness to reduce profit margins.

The Chief Justice also wondered how the petitioner, a goldsmith by profession who did not even participate in the tender process, had chosen to file a PIL petition challenging the award of the contract. He further questioned how public interest would be affected if the State awarded the contract to jewellers who had agreed to supply the gold rings at the lowest cost compared to all other bidders.

Image from article: Thaimaman Thanga Mothiram scheme: Madras HC dismisses challenge to gold ring contract awarded to Joyalukkas, K…
On the petitioner’s contention that the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation Limited (TNMSCL), which had called for the tender, was established only for the purpose of procuring medical supplies and that it does not have the expertise to assess the quality of gold, Advocate General Vijay Narayan said that the petitioner’s argument goes against the prayer that he had sought in his PIL petition.

The A-G highlighted that the petitioner had not only urged the court to quash the award of the contract to the two jewellers but also sought a consequential direction to TNMSCL to issue a fresh tender for procuring the gold rings. Mr. Narayan said that the litigant had questioned the expertise of TNMSCL on one hand and sought a direction to the same corporation, on the other hand, to issue a fresh tender notice.

Image from article: Thaimaman Thanga Mothiram scheme: Madras HC dismisses challenge to gold ring contract awarded to Joyalukkas, K…

What the petitioner said

In his affidavit, the petitioner had stated that though the government had agreed to pay the market price for the gold, there were several other costs involved, such as making charges, tamper-proof packing charges, printing of serialised blister cards, transportation charges, and insurance coverage for the rings during transportation. Joyalukkas had quoted a negligible amount of 0.01 paisa for all those charges put together.

The other 10 bidders had quoted between ₹410.97 and ₹15,356.27 for all those charges. However, after the submission of bids, Kalyan Jewellers, which had originally quoted ₹978.50, had agreed to match the price of 0.01 paisa quoted by Joyalukkas. Hence, the contract was awarded to both of them at a 70:30 ratio. By this, the two bidders would earn only an abnormally low amount of just ₹4,416.67 each, the petitioner claimed.

Image from article: Thaimaman Thanga Mothiram scheme: Madras HC dismisses challenge to gold ring contract awarded to Joyalukkas, K…
He contended that the amount would not even be sufficient for the mandatory stamping of a hallmark on the gold rings, which would cost around ₹45 per ring and would totally lead to an expenditure of nearly ₹2 crore for 4,41,667 rings.
Published - September 10, 2026 01:30 pm IST

The Hindu Verified Source

Reported by Mohamed Imranullah S. · Syndicated via official news feed

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