1. In this writ petition, the petitioner herein questions the action of the 2nd respondent in considering the bid of the 3rd respondent and declaring it as the successful tenderer on 16.05.2015 in respect of the notified works, as arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional.

2. It is stated that the 2nd respondent has issued a e-Tender Notice, (hereinafter referred to as “the NIT”) in respect of the works pertaining to Drilling, Excavation, Loading, Transportation, Dumping, Spreading & Leveling etc., of 1896.286 LBCM of overburden (i.e., 1863.006 LBM of In-Situ OB and 33.280 LCM of Coal) by using HEMM including Additional works viz., 6.00 lakh Drilling Meterage, 1500 Shovel Hours, 1500 Dozer Hours and De-silting of 3 LBCM from 2 No’s of Cheruvu/Tanks at RKOCP, Mandamarri area for a period of 72 months – Enquiry No: E111300503, dated 12.03.2015. The tenders submitted were opened on 16.05.2015 at 5-00 p.m., and out of 12 bids received, one was disqualified technically and, the other 11 price bids were opened and rankings were given, whereby the 3rd respondent was ranked as the lowest L-1 and the petitioner herein was ranked as the lowest L-2. While the 3rd respondent’s bid was f