Gujarat High Court
M/S R And B Infra Project Limited vs The Municipal Commissioner, Porbandar ... on 1 April, 2026
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/SCA/4641/2026 ORDER DATED: 01/04/2026
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4641 of 2026
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M/S R AND B INFRA PROJECT LIMITED
Versus
THE MUNICIPAL COMMISSIONER, PORBANDAR MUNICIPAL CORPORATION & ORS.
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Appearance:
THAKKAR AND PAHWA ADVOCATES(1357) for the Petitioner(s) No. 1
MR DM DEVNANI(5880) for the Respondent(s) No. 1
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE N.S.SANJAY GOWDA
and
HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE J. L. ODEDRA
Date : 01/04/2026
ORAL ORDER
(PER : HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE N.S.SANJAY GOWDA)
1. The prayer in the writ-petition is to quash the communication by which the petitioner has been informed that it has not been selected during the stage of evaluation.
2. The reasons for the rejection have been setforth in the draft amendment, which is filed today. The draft amendment is allowed.
3. A reading of the amended prayer indicates that the claim of the petitioner was rejected on the ground that it had not furnished the Registration Certificate of the other State in the sense it was not uploaded and no application was made in the R&B Department for AA Class Registration before tender submission. The other reason stated in the draft amendment is not be Page 1 of 6 Uploaded by MANOJ KR. RAI(HC01072) on Sat Apr 04 2026 Downloaded on : Mon Apr 06 20:46:52 IST 2026 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/4641/2026 ORDER DATED: 01/04/2026 undefined considered in the light of the order that we propose to pass.
4. The records indicate that the petitioner had uploaded a set of documents on 23.02.2026, and thereafter, by letter dated 07.03.2026 had contacted the entity which was to process the tender forms and informed them that some of the documents which have been uploaded were missing. It was stated that out of 139 pages that had been uploaded only 106 pages were being seen in the portal.
5. The entity corresponded with the petitioner and ultimately stated that there was a required procedure to be followed inasmuch as 4-5 documents to be uploaded at a time, and thereafter, the persons submitting the bid would have to wait for the message "Files, Sign and Save Successfully" and only thereafter the next set of files was to be uploaded. This reply indicates that the petitioner had not followed the procedure inasmuch as it had not waited for the message "Files, Sign and Save Successfully" and as a consequence all the documents though uploaded were not visible.
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NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/4641/2026 ORDER DATED: 01/04/2026 undefined
6. Normally, whenever, an online processing of a tender is taken into consideration is prescribed to be followed, the requirement of submitting physical copy of the tender documents is not permitted. However, in the present case, for the reasons best known to the authority, a clause is incorporated in the tender document which reads as follows:-
24 Physical Submission of "Submissions of all Tender documents last Date & Time Document" along with tender fee and EMD Scan Copy in Online electronic formate. Original Tender Fee, EMD and Original Copy of affidavit for Authenticity of documents must be sent in through R.P.A.D./Speed Post/Courier to reach the office of Municipal Commissioner, PORBANDAR MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, With
7 Working Days from the Last Date of the Tender Submission.
7. This clause would indicate that after the online submission of the tender document, the bidder was also required to submit all tender documents physically i.e., a hard copy along-with the tender fee and EMD Scanned Page 3 of 6 Uploaded by MANOJ KR. RAI(HC01072) on Sat Apr 04 2026 Downloaded on : Mon Apr 06 20:46:52 IST 2026 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/4641/2026 ORDER DATED: 01/04/2026 undefined Copy in the normal electronic format to the authority. It is admitted by the corporation that the petitioner did submit the tender document physically as required under the aforementioned clause-24 of the tender notification. This would, therefore, indicate that though the documents had not been uploaded correctly, the same had been submitted physically as required under clause- 24 within a period of 7 days. This would also therefore indicate that the petitioner was not making an attempt to rectify the lacuna in the submission of its tender.
8. Faced with this situation, learned counsel for the corporation, submits that there are other clauses in the tender notification which stipulates that only those documents which have been uploaded correctly will be considered and if the uploading is incorrect, even though, the documents are submitted physically the same would not be looked into and this procedure was followed and the claim of the petitioner was rejected.
9. In our view, if the tender notification provides for submission of the tender document physically and it is not in dispute that the petitioner did submit the tender Page 4 of 6 Uploaded by MANOJ KR. RAI(HC01072) on Sat Apr 04 2026 Downloaded on : Mon Apr 06 20:46:52 IST 2026 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/4641/2026 ORDER DATED: 01/04/2026 undefined document physically and this tender submitted contained the documents which have been improperly uploaded, the petitioner has made out a case for its bid to be considered.
10. Faced with this situation, learned counsel for the corporation, on instructions, submits that the corporation would consider the missing document submitted by the petitioner (which have been submitted physically) and the case of the petitioner would be thereafter be evaluated in accordance with law.
11. In light of this submission, the writ-petition is disposed of directing the corporation to consider the documents which the petitioner has physically submitted (which were however not visible when the petitioner had uploaded the documents online), and thereafter, take a decision on the bid submitted by the petitioner. Petition is accordingly disposed of.
12. Learned counsel for the Corporation on instructions, also submits that after the tender was opened, negotiations have been undertaken and a work order has Page 5 of 6 Uploaded by MANOJ KR. RAI(HC01072) on Sat Apr 04 2026 Downloaded on : Mon Apr 06 20:46:52 IST 2026 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/4641/2026 ORDER DATED: 01/04/2026 undefined been issued. He however submits that the said decision will be kept in abeyance till the case of the petitioner as ordered earlier is considered. This statement is taken on record.
(N.S.SANJAY GOWDA,J) (J. L. ODEDRA, J) Manoj Kumar Rai Page 6 of 6 Uploaded by MANOJ KR. RAI(HC01072) on Sat Apr 04 2026 Downloaded on : Mon Apr 06 20:46:52 IST 2026