Judgment

RANGANATHAN, J.:- The petitioner is aggrieved by the award of a contract by the Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd. (KPC), an instrumentality of the State of Karnataka, in favour of the Mysore Construction Co. (MCC). His writ petition and a further writ appeal in the Karnataka High Court having been unsuccessful, he has preferred this Special Leave Petition from the judgment of the High Court in the writ appeal. We have heard counsel for both sides at length. We grant special leave and proceed to dispose of the appeal.

2. Though, at an earlier stage of the proceedings there were some allegations of favouritism, the plea of the petitioner, as urged before us, is that the KPC should not at all have entertained the tender of MCC as the MCC did not fulfill certain preliminary requirements which, under the Notification Inviting Tenders (NIT), had to be fulfilled even before the forms of tender could be supplied to any intending contractor.

3. The contract pertained to the construction of a Main Station Building of a Power House at the Raichur Thermal Power Plant at an estimated cost of about Rs. 1.8 crores. The NIT dated 27-12-1988 invited tenders from registered contractors of appro