( 1 ) THIS writ petition has been filed on behalf of two petitioners. The affidavit in support of the writ petition has been sworn by one Sri S. Vaikuntanathan who is general Manager (Finance and Accounts) in the second petitioner-Company. He has filed the affidavit on behalf of both the petitioners and he claims that he is authorized to do so.

( 2 ) THE second respondent issued a notification on 29th July, 1999 inviting prospective bidders to submit the data for the purpose of determining eligibility to participate in tendering process. The first petitioner has submitted the data and he was informed that he is eligible to participate. The bids covered the contract packages of phase-Ill of Andhra Pradesh state Highways projects viz. , APSH-8, apsh-9, APSH-10, APSH-11 and APSH-12. He was also informed by a communication that the bidder selected would be entitled to one package. It was also informed that the bid for the packages would be based on criteria of lowest cost to the Government of andhra Pradesh. The first petitioner, thereafter submitted his tender for all packages except APSH-12 and according to him he was the second lowest bidder in respect of package cove