2026:CGHC:1335-DB Digitally signed by NAFR ANURADHA ANURADHA TIWARI TIWARI Date:

2026.01.09

17:50:49 HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR +0530 WPC No. 56 of 2026 Ramkumar Yadav So Shri Ramsanehi Yadav Aged About 49 Years Sole Proprietor of Ramkumar Yadav, R/o Netaji Chowk, Janjgir, District-

Janjgir-Champa (C.G.)

... Petitioner versus

1 - State of Chhattisgarh Through - Secretary, Food And Civil Supplies Department, Mantralaya, Mahanadi Bhawan, Capital Complex, Atal Nagar, Nawa Raipur, District- Raipur (C.G.)

2 - Chhattisgarh State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited Through Its Managing Director, Chhattisgarh State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited, Block No. 7A, Second Floor, Office Complex, Sector-24, Atal Nagar, Raipur, District- Raipur (C.G.)

3 - Managing Director Chhattisgarh State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited, Block No. 7A, Second Floor, Office Complex, Sector-24, Atal Nagar, Raipur, District- Raipur (C.G.)

4 - District Manager Civil Supplies Corporation Sarangarh, District-

Sarangarh-Bilaigarh (C.G.)

5 - Ram Das Agrawal S/o Late Shri Ramratan Agrawal R/o Pratapganj, Sarangarh, District- Sarangarh-Bilaigarh (C.G.)

... Respondents (Cause-title taken from Case Information System)

For Petitioner : Mr. Manoj Paranjpe, Senior Advocate assisted by Mr. Kabeer Kalwani, Advocate For Respondent No.1 : Mr. Shaleen Singh Baghel, Government Advocate For Respondents No.2 : Mr. Anish Tiwari, Advocate to 4 Hon'ble Shri Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice Hon'ble Shri Arvind Kumar Verma, Judge

Order on Board

Per Ramesh Sinha , Chief Justice

09.01.2026

1. Heard Mr. Manoj Paranjpe, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Mr. Kabeer Kalwani, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. Shaleen Singh Baghel, learned Government Advocate, appearing on behalf of the State/respondent No.1 and Mr. Anish Tiwari, learned counsel appearing for respondents No.2 to 4.

2. The present petition has been filed by the petitioner with the following relief(s):-

“That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue writ/writs, order/orders, direction/directions quashing/setting aside decision (Annex. P/1), whereby the petitioner has been declared as technically disqualified and his financial bid has not been opened and the private respondent No.5 has been declared as lowest one.

2] That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue writ/writs, order/orders, direction/directions and the respondent authorities may kindly be directed to reconsider the technical bid of the petitioner and they may further be directed to open the financial bid of the petitioner and if the petitioner would be found suitable the appropriate action shall be taken and contract may kindly be awarded to the petitioner.

3) That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to grant any other relief(s), which is deemed fit and proper in the aforesaid facts and circumstances of the case.”

3. Brief facts of the case, in a nutshell are that the Notice Inviting Tender (E-Tender) dated 07.10.2025 was issued for loading and unloading (Hamali work), requiring deposit of an Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) of ₹1,00,000/- through RTGS in terms of Clause 14.1. The petitioner duly deposited the said amount through RTGS bearing UTR No. BARBR25310896736 and submitted the tender along with the RTGS receipt. However, in Schedule-III (Parishisht-3), Column No. 20, the UTR number was inadvertently mentioned as BARBR253110896736, the only discrepancy being the addition of an extra numeral “1”, which was a bona fide clerical error.

4. Despite the admitted position that the EMD amount had been received by the respondents, the petitioner’s technical bid, opened on 08.12.2025, was rejected solely on this hyper-technical ground, which was informally conveyed telephonically on 11.12.2025, without any formal communication or supply of the rejection order or noting sheets. Another untenable objection was raised that the stamp paper undertaking did not bear signature and seal, whereas the petitioner had submitted separate undertakings