IMPORTANT POINT
Timely submission of bids is essential in e-procurement, and failure to comply negates any claim for acceptance based on alleged technical issues.

ORDER :

(Surepalli Nanda, J.) :

Heard the learned counsels Sri B.Sudhakar Reddy and Neeraja Reddy, appearing on behalf of the petitioner, the learned Government Pleader for Energy, appearing on behalf of respondent No.1 and learned standing counsel Sri R.Pavan Reddy, appearing on behalf of Respondent Nos.2 to 4.

2. The petitioner approached the court seeking prayer as under:

“To issue a Writ, Order or Direction more particularly one in nature of Writ of CERTIORARI calling for records pertaining to Lr.No.CE(C&C)/SE(C&C)/DE(C)/A1/F.MNG (2023-24)/D.No.02/24, Dt:01.04.2024 and Quash the same as bad in law, illegal and against principles of natural justice and consequently direct the Respondents herein to allow the Writ Petitioner to participate in Tender process by taking into consideration the E-mail uploaded on 05.03.2024 and 01.04.2024 as well as hard copy sent by Register Post on 01.04.2024, to the Respondents herein pertaining to Price Bid details/format pertaining to “Transportation of 42.0 Lakh Metric Tonnes of Coal from Manuguru group of mines of M/s Singareni Collieries Company Ltd to BTPS Coal yard by Road for a period of one year” and consider the same during the Bid price opening along with other Tenderers/ Bidders in pursuance of tender Notification vide E-Tender Specification No. E-05/CE (C&C)/SE(C&C)/DE(C)/A1/05/2023-24, issued by the Respondents 2, 3 and 4 and in the Interest of Justice.”

3. The case of the petitioner in brief as per the averments made by the petitioner in the affidavit filed by the petitioner in support of the present writ petition, is as under:

The Respondent Nos. 2 to 4 issued E-Tender Specification No. E-05/CE (C & C)/SE (C & C)/DE(C)/A1/05/2023-24 for transportation of 42.0 Lakh Metric Tonnes of Coal from Manuguru group of mines of M/s Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) to Bhadradri Thermal Power Station (BTPS), by road for a period of one year. In pursuance of the said notification, the petitioner paid Rs.29,500/- on 04.03.2024 with merchant transaction Reference No. 2208726, with Atom Transaction Reference No. 11000208420234 and submitted EMD with bank guarantee of Rs. 1,35,00,000/- dated 04.03.2024.

Subsequently, at the final stage of bid submission the petitioner encountered a technical glitch during online submission on 05.03.2024 at4:17 hrs and due to the said glitch, the petitioner was unable to submit the application and was directed to contact E-Procurement helpdesk from Vupadhi Techno Services of Telangana. However, the help desk was unable to resolve the issue and the petitioner sent an E-mail representation dated 05.03.2024 at 5:42 PM. Subsequently, the petitioner submitted another representation by E-Mail at 5:59 PM along with required documents and the bank guarantee after the E-Procurement help desk had directed the petitioner to contact tender inviting authority for tender date extension for one (1) day and the respondents failed to respond.

It is the case of the petitioner that, on 06.03.2024, at 10:35 AM, the petitioner made a request for postponement of tender for one day to enable the petitioner to submit all the forms online along with the bank guarantee. Even on 14.03.2024, the petitioner requested Respondent no. 2 to 4 to give the petitioner a chance for contract as the petitioner had been a successful bidder for the past 3 years and in response the was asked to submit his contact details. Aggrieved by the inaction of the respondents the petitioner filed W.P No. 7179 of 2024 for considering the petitioner’s representation and allowing the petitioner to participate in the opening of price bid on 18.03.2024. The said writ petition was allowed directing the Respondents to consider the representation of the petitioner for participating in the price bid.

In pursuance of the order dated 18.03.2024 passed in W.P No. 7179 of 2024, the Respondent No. 4 rejected the petitioner’s claim for postponing the submission of the Pre-qualification bid and was silent about the opening of the pr