Vibhu Bakhru, J.

The petitioners have filed the present petition, inter alia, praying as under:-

"Issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction to the Respondent, to open and consider the bid submitted by the Petitioner in response to the Notice Inviting Tender dated 31.10.2018 issued by the Respondent for construction of 24x76.20 M SPAN Important Bridge over river Ganga at Allahabad between Jhusi and Daraganj Station of NER in the State of Uttar Pradesh, India, on merits and in accordance with law;"

2. The controversy in the present petition relates to not opening of petitioner no.1's bid for construction of 24 x 76.20 M SPAN Bridge over river Ganga at Allahabad between Jhusi and Daraganj Station of NER, in the State of Uttar Pradesh. Admittedly, the deadline for submission of the bid was 21.12.2018 at 11.00 hours. The said time was subsequently extended on three occasions. First, it was extended to 22.01.2019; second, it was extended to 22.02.2019; and finally it was extended to 06.03.2019.

3. There is no dispute that the bids were to be submitted before 11.00 hours on 06.03.2019. Admittedly, there was some delay in petitioner no.1 submitting it