Abandoning a prescribed e-auction process for a manual auction without justification violates principles of fairness and transparency in public dealings.

1. Leave granted.

2. The challenge in these bunch of appeals is to the judgment and order dated 13.02.2019 of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana whereby the writ petitions filed by the respective parties were allowed whereunder the decision by the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (for short, "HSIIDC") to conduct manual auction from the stage of end of e - auction, was struck down by the Division Bench of the High Court.

3. We have heard the submissions of Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, the learned ASG assisted by Mr. Alok Sangwan, Sr. AAG and Mr. Rajat Sangwan, learned counsel appearing for the appellant. The respondents are represented by the learned senior counsel, Mr. Neeraj Kishan Kaul, Mr. Nidhesh Gupta, Mr. Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Mr. Dama Seshadri Naidu.

4. An advertisement was issued by HSIIDC for the allotment of 1762 industrial plots of varying sizes in different industrial estates across the State of Haryana. E - auction was conducted for 352 of the offered plots. In course of the same, some of the participants made complaints alleging technical glitches in the e - auction process. Although 24 complaints were received against individual plots, since plots were grouped in nine categories, the complaints were treated to be for all 130 plots in those nine categories. In other words, one complaint vis - a - vis one plot in a given category was taken as complaints for all the plots in that category. In the 24 complaints received, technical glitches thwarting fair participation in the online bid process were highlighted.

5. For conducting the e - auction for the industrial plots, the terms and conditions were set out in a Brochure and it can be inferred therefrom that allotments were to be made in accordance with the Enterprises Promotion Policy of the State Government and the Estate Management Procedure (EMP) / Allotment Procedure of the Corporation, as amended from time to time. Clause 3.4 (ii)(a) and (c) of the EMP is relevant where it is specified that allotment shall be made through limited e - auction amongst the applicants.

6. The e - auction for allotment of industrial plots was undertaken on 25.09.2018, wherein the respondents and others participated. On conclusion of the process of e - auction, a public notice was issued on 29.11.2018 whereby decision was conveyed that for 130 plots, the Corporation will conduct manual auction by discarding the bids obtained during the e - auction. The reason given for abandoning the e - auction process with respect to the 130 plots and opting for manual auction was "due to some technical reasons it has been decided to resume / conduct some of the auctions manually as per the following schedule". In the notice, it was specified that the auction at Sl. Nos. 1 to 8 shall be resumed from the highest bid as received during e - auction process.

7. At that stage, those aggrieved by the decision to conduct manual auction for the 130 plots by limited abandonment of the e - auction process (by accepting bid from the highest e - auction stage), moved the High Court.

8. Primary Submissions
The primary contention made by the writ petitioners before the High Court is that when decision is taken to allot the plots on the basis of e - auction, the authorities cannot conduct manual auction since e - auction was expected to ensure a transparent and fair procedure for allotment of plots. However, the HSIIDC in support of the decision to abandon the process of e - auction and the decision to go for manual auction referred to the technical glitches in the e - auction process which inca