1. The proceedings issued by the 5th Respondent No. SE / SRBC - 3 / Ndl / DB / D1 / F.P. / 12/320 M dated 18-12-1998 rejecting the tender of the petitioner is assailed in this writ petition.

2. The relevant facts leading to the filing of the writ petition are as follows :
The World Bank has released certain funds to the Government of Andhra Pradesh towards the construction of Irrigation Projects. Accordingly, various irrigation projects were notified by the Government for construction. Srisailam Right Bank Canal is one such project, which is constructed with the credit assistance with the World Bank. The 5th respondent invited National competitive Bidding on 16-10-1997 for "work of construction of Owk Reservoir Complex from Km 116.481 to Km. 119.717 of SRBC comprising of Paleru Earth Dam, Gollaleru Earth Dam with Spillway and Thimmaraj Earth Dam with Head Regulator" (hereinafter called Package XII). Number of intending bidders obtained the tender documents and submitted their respective bids to the 5th respondent. It is submitted that the Bids received in pursuance of the tender notification were scrutinized and the bid offered by the petitioner was found to be lowest and therefore t