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D. K. UPADHYAYA, A. S. DOCTOR
Sangram Balavant Repe – Appellant
Versus
Executive Engineer – Respondent
JUDGMENT/ORDER
DEVENDRA KUMAR UPADHYAYA, CJ. - Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. With the consent of the learned counsel for the parties, we proceed to decide the writ petition at the admission stage itself.
2. This petition, filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, seeks to assail the validity of the impugned decision whereby the tender, in which the petitioner had participated and had quoted the lowest bid, has been cancelled.
3. Submission of the learned counsel for the petitioner is that the impugned decision to cancel the tender is absolutely arbitrary and unreasonable as the petitioner had qualified technically whereupon the financial bid was also opened, where he was declared to be the lowest tenderer, despite that now the tender process has been cancelled taking a plea that none of the tenderers had technically qualified. He, thus, submits that once the petitioner and other two tenderers were declared to have technically qualified, based on which the financial bid was also opened, it was not legally permissible for the respondents to have revisited their decision and cancel the entire tender process.
4. Learned Addl. Government Pleader, however, on the basis
The court established that the evaluation of tenders must strictly adhere to the conditions set forth in the tender notice, and any arbitrary deviation undermines the integrity of the tender process.
The cancellation of a tender process before technical evaluation does not confer vested rights to bidders, and adherence to procurement laws is mandatory in future processes.
The authority to cancel a tender prevails under administrative discretion, based on the rationale of maintaining integrity, fairness, and transparency in public procurement processes.
The cancellation of a tender by an authority after the bidding process is complete is arbitrary unless supported by clear, substantiated justifications, reaffirming the need for transparency and fair....
The authority may cancel a tender without reason if lack of competition is evident; bidders have no enforceable rights without formal acceptance of their bids.
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