JUDGMENT :

UMESH A. TRIVEDI, J.

1. This petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is filed praying for quashing impugned decision of the respondent dated 08.01.2024, whereby proposal of the petitioner pursuant to a Tender No. GMDC/TPD/007/23-24 for Lakhpath Lignite Block did not meet with the guidelines specified in the Request For Proposal (hereinafter referred to as “RFP document”, for short), held to be ineligible for further rounds and Earnest Money Deposit (hereinafter referred to as “EMD”, for short) submitted by the petitioner was told to be disbursed as per guidelines specified in the “RFP document”.

2. The respondent – Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “GMDC”, for short) issued notice inviting tender and “RFP document” for seeking lignite mining contractors on turn-key basis at Kutch, on 02.08.2023.

2.1 Pursuant to the said tender notice, a pre-bid meeting of prospective bidders convened on 06.09.2023 to consider and deal with resolution of queries that may be raised by the prospective bidders. To the queries raised by different bidders, it was resolved and opined by the respondent herein and all the prospective bidders were