Judgment on Board

30.04.2026

Per, Ramesh Sinha, CJ.

(Cause-title taken from Case Information System)

1 The petitioner has filed this petition seeking following reliefs:

“10.1 That, the Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue appropriate writ setting aside impugned communication/order dated 10.03.2026 (Annexure P/8) passed by the Respondent no. 2 in connection with Tender ID 2025_SECL_346075_1 whereby the technical bid (wrongly mentioned financial bid/ of the petitioner company was rejected in an illegal, and arbitrary manner in violation of Article 14 and 19(1) (g) of the Constitution of India, in the interest of justice.

10.2 That, the Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue appropriate writ setting aside impugned order dated 15.04.2026 (Annexure P/13) issued by Respondent no. 2 containing the recommendation of IEM as being illegal arbitrary and based on non application of mind.

10.3 That, the Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue appropriate writ setting aside impugned Letter of Acceptance (LOA) dated 20.04.2026 (Annexure P/14) being illegal an arbitrary.

10.4 That, the Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue appropriate writ/directing the respondent company reconsider and accept the company's technical bid in Tender ID 2025 SECL_346075_1 and further direct the respondent to initiate fresh Tender process commencing from financial bid stage and permit the petitioner to participate in the said fresh Tender process.

10.5 That, the Hon'ble Court may kindly be placed to pass any other appropriate order/direction considering the facts and circumstances of the writ, in the interest of justice.”

2 Brief facts of the case are that the petitioner is a company incorporated under the provisions of Companies Act and engaged in the field of infrastructure development and execution of engineering and construction works. As per petitioner, the Net Worth of petitioner company is 503.44 Crores. The respondents SECL issued an NIT on 22.10.2025 for “Planning, Design, Engineering, Construction, Fabrication, Erection, Supply, Installation, Testing Trail Rune and Commissioning of Coal Handling Plant (CHP) including Operation & Maintenance (O&M) during Defect Liability Period (DLP) of 5 Years on Turnkey Basis at Amadand OCP (4.00 MTY) of Jamuna & Kotma Area.” The estimated cost of the said work inducing GST was fixed at Rs.290,13,55,000/-. As per Clasue-8(C) of the said NIT, the bidder must have minimum Net Worth of 10 percent of the estimated project cost put to the tender at the close of the last financial year from the date of NIT based on their latest audited annual accounts i.e. 10 percent of 2,90,13,55,000/- which comes to Rs.29,01,35,500/-. The petitioner submitted its bid through online mode on 06.12.2025 with all requisite documents including certificate dated 03.12.2025 of Net Worth i.e. Rs.503.44 Crore for the financial year 2024-25. They also submitted Chartered Accountant’s Certificate dated 26.11.2025 showing audited financial figure for the preceding five financial years based on audited balance sheet. The respondent SECL raised a query on 10.01.2026 that uploaded Net Worth Certificate is not in accordance with Clause-8(C) and directed the petitioner to submit a clarification from Chartered Accountant explicitly indicating the value of relevant parameters in accordance with definition contained in Clause-8 (C), to which the petitioner submitted its reply on 16.01.2026 and submitted another certificate of Net Worth issued on 13.01.2026 with clear breakup under different heads. However, vide order impugned dated 10.03.2026 the petitioner’s technical bid was rejected due to non fulfillment of eligibility requirement of Net Worth and three bids were accepted for further tender process and for opening of price bid. Hence this petition.

3 Learned counsel for the petitioner would submit that the impugned action on the part of respondent is arbitrary, unreasonable and violative of Article 14 of the Constitu