HIMA KOHLI, J.

1. Gone are those days when it was said that when someone does something at the “eleventh hour”, they do it at the last possible moment. In today’s day and time, when technology is advancing at lightening speed, even a fraction of a minute is akin to the “eleventh hour”. This is amply demonstrated in the present case, where the fate of the petitioner’s bid in response to a Global Tender floated by the respondent No.1/ONGC, hangs on those very fleeting seconds.

2. We may first recapitulate the facts of the case. On 24.11.2016, the respondent No.1/ONGC had issued a Notice Inviting Tender under the International Competitive Bidding Format, in respect of the “Offshore Process Platform (CPP & LQUIP) project for development of KG-DWN-98/2”. The bidding process comprised of a two bids system whereby the Techno-Commercial Bid was required to be submitted by the bidders. The Technical Bid had to be opened on the day of the Bid submission, followed by the opening of the Commercial Bid. The submission of the Bids was to be made on the “ONGC e-bidding engine at htt