Hon'ble Shri Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice

Hon'ble Shri Ravindra Kumar Agrawal, Judge

Order on Board

Per Ramesh Sinha, C.J.

11/05/2026

1. Heard Mr. Apoorva Tripathi, learned counsel for the Petitioner as well as Praveen Das, learned Additional Advocate General, appearing for State/Respondents.

2. The present petition has been filed by the petitioner with the following prayers:

“A. May, this Hon'ble Court be pleased to, Issue a Writ of Certiorari or any other appropriate writ, order, or direction, quashing and setting aside the decision of the Respondent authorities to technically qualify Respondent No. 7 (M/s Arya Construction Company) in System Tender No. 183610, and the consequential opening of the Financial Bid (Envelope 'C') of Respondent No. 7 on 18.03.2026, as being illegal, arbitrary, and in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

B. May this Hon'ble court be pleased to, Issue a Writ of Mandamus, or any other appropriate writ, order, or direction, commanding Respondent Nos. 1 to 6 to immediately disqualify Respondent No. 7 from System Tender No. 183610 for submitting false information, on account of its submission of false and fabricated Annexure-III (Work-in-Hand Bid document) documents and false Affidavit /Shapth Patra (Annexure-VI bid document), in conformity with the mandatory of the provisions disqualification Prequalification Document, maintaining parity with their own decision as taken in System Tender No. 180966, wherein, the technical bid of the Respondent No.7 was disqualified for the use of Identical / same false and fabricated documents;

C. May, the Hon'ble Court be pleased to, Issue a writ in the other writ/writs, mandamus or any direction/directions directing the Respondent Authorities to Disregard / cancel the financial bid opening dated 18.03.2026, all consequential proceedings thereto, including any Letter of Intent, Work Order, or Agreement, if issued or executed and to re-evaluate the financial bids strictly among the legally and technically responsive bidders excluding Respondent No. 7.

D. May, the Hon'ble Court be pleased to, Issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order, or direction, directing the Respondent Authorities to re-open and re-conduct the pre-qualification evaluation of System Tender No. 183610 afresh, in accordance with the tender conditions and in a transparent, consistent, and lawful manner;

E. Issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order, or direction, commanding the Respondent-Authorities to forthwith act upon and decide the Petitioner's complaint dated 30.03.2026 in accordance with law, and to apply the mandatory disqualification clause consistently as applied in Tender No. 180966 to Respondent No. 7 in Tender No. 183610.

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

G. Cost of the petition may also be awarded.”

3. The brief facts of the case are that the petitioner, an “A” Class registered contractor, participated in System Tender No. 183610 dated 09.01.2026 floated by the respondent authorities for the work of “Repair of Canal and Lining Work of Lower Dodaki Diversion Scheme” valued at Rs. 984.51 Lakhs. The grievance of the petitioner arises from the action of the respondent authorities in qualifying the technical bid of Respondent No. 7 and subsequently opening its financial bid on 18.03.2026, despite the fact that Respondent No. 7 had earlier been disqualified in System Tender No. 180966 by the very same department under Clause 2.1.6(i) of the tender conditions for submitting false and inflated “Work-in-Hand” statements and affidavits. The petitioner submits that the very same documents, which were found false in the earlier tender proceedings and accepted as such by Respondent No. 7 without challenge, were again relied upon by Respondent No. 7 in the present tender. Ignoring its earlier findings and acting contrary to the principles of fairness, consistency and level pla