Can an eligibility criteria prescribed in a tender be relaxed where the participant falls short of the required experience by 39 days?

Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders Act, 1998 — s.11 — Tender — Eligibility criteria — Rejection at the technical stage — Missing documents clause — Judicial review of tenders — Tender — Eligibility criteria — Mandatory, not relaxable — Held: An eligibility criteria prescribed in a tender is mandatory and can never be relaxed, since any relaxation would cause injustice to those who would have participated had they known that the eligibility criteria was flexible in nature. (¶36, 39) Tender document — Uploading in a particular manner — No relaxation — Held further: Where a tender document has to be uploaded in a particular manner, it should be uploaded only in that particular manner or not at all; non-submission of the income tax returns required for the preceding three financial years is fatal. (¶46, 47, 55) Tender — Clause for obtaining missing documents — Scope — Held further: A clause permitting missing documents to be called for applies only where a document mentioned in the list was not uploaded; it places no obligation on the tender inviting authority to advise a participant to upload documents which are mandatory in nature. (¶55) Judicial review of tenders — No equity in commercial matters — Held further: There can be no equity in commercial matters, and it is not for a participant to dictate how the bids are to be evaluated and examined; the rejection at the technical stage cannot be faulted. Writ Appeals dismissed. (¶48, 56, 57)