Judgment on Board

Per Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice

1. The present writ petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India has been filed by the petitioners calling in question the legality, validity and propriety of the e-mail communication dated 10.10.2025 issued by respondent No.1 through respondent No.6, whereby the bid submitted by petitioner No.1 in response to the Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) for the work of “Construction of Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) at Kanker (C.G.)” has been declared technically disqualified. As per the impugned communication, the bid of the petitioners has been rejected on the ground that the bank guarantee furnished by the petitioners towards bid security was valid only upto 18.10.2025, whereas in terms of the NIT the bid security was required to remain valid for a period of 45 days beyond the final bid validity period i.e. upto 04.01.2026. The petitioners contend that the action of the respondent authorities is arbitrary and discriminatory inasmuch as the bid submitted by respondent No.4 has been declared technically qualified even though the bank guarantee furnished by respondent No.4 was also not valid up to the required date and was valid only up to 02.01.2026. It is the case of the petitioners that both the petitioners and respondent No.4 were placed on the same footing with regard to compliance of the tender condition relating to validity of the bank guarantee, yet the respondent authorities have adopted a differential treatment by disqualifying the petitioners while permitting respondent No.4 to proceed further in the tender process, which according to the petitioners amounts to violation of the principles of equality and fairness embodied under Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

2. The present petition has been filed by the petitioners seeking the following reliefs:-

A. A writ and/or an order in the nature of writ of mandamus do issue calling for the records of case pertaining petitioners' case from authorities below concerned if this Hon'ble Court may deem fit in facts and circumstances of the case.

B. A writ and/or an order in the nature of writ of certiorari do issue quashing e-mail/letter dated 10.10.2025 by which reasons has been assigned for declaring the petitioners disqualified be quashed be arbitrary, illegal and comes within the purview of malice in fact and malice in law and in violation of petitioners' fundamental and constitutional rights and in effect, declare the petitioners qualified and further order be passed of consideration of bid submitted by petitioners along with other tenderers in the facts and circumstances of the case.

C. A writ and/or an order in the nature of writ of mandamus do issue restraining the respondent authorities from awarding the tender and entering into contract with respondent No. 4 as such award will come in purview of malice in law and malice in fact, contrary to law settled in this regard and in the facts and circumstances of case.

D. Any other relief which this Hon'ble Court may deem fit in the facts & circumstances of case.

E. Cost of the petition may also be awarded.

3. The facts of the case as emerges from the pleadings of the petition are that, the petitioner No.1 is a Limited Liability Partnership firm registered under the provisions of the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008 and is an experienced ‘A’ Class civil contractor undertaking construction works. Petitioner No.2 is one of the partners of petitioner No.1 and is authorized to represent the firm in all contractual and legal matters.

******* The respondent No.1 i.e. WAPCOS Limited, a Government of India undertaking under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, acting as Project Management Consultant on behalf of the National Education Society for Tribal Students (NESTS), issued a Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) bearing No. WAP/CMU-III/2025-26/NESTS/CHTGH/KANKER/09 dated 04.08.2025 for the work of Construction of Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) at Kanker,