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Madras High Court· 07 September 2026

Can an unsuccessful bidder require a tender to be cancelled on the ground that only a single tenderer was left after his own bid was rejected?

N.Nattathy v. Tender Inviting Authority / The Managing Director
WA(MD).952/2026 · 2026:MHC:3632 · W.A.(MD)No.952 of 2026
Coram: Justice C.V.Karthikeyan · Justice R.Sakthivel
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Answer

No. It is not for the participant to dictate as to how the bids are to be evaluated and examined; it is for the tender inviting authority to take a decision. Evaluating tenders and awarding contracts are essentially commercial functions, principles of equity and natural justice stay at a distance, and there cannot be any equity in commercial matters.

Headnote

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)

Headnote

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In the Court's own words
Paragraph 48We further hold that there cannot be any equity in commercial matters. It had been pointed out by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Jagdish Mandal -vs.- State of Orissa, reported in (2007) 14 SCC 517, as follows:
Paragraph 56The argument of the learned Counsel for the appellant that there was only one tenderer left and therefore, the tender should be cancelled has to be rejected, as it is not for the participant to dictate, as to how the bids are to be evaluated and examined. It is for the first respondent to take a decision. We hold that the judgments relied on this aspect by the learned Counsel for the appellant would not take the appellant any forward or advance the case of the appellant.
Acts & Sections
s.11 Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders Act, 1998

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Also decided in this judgment
Can an eligibility criteria prescribed in a tender be relaxed where the participant falls short of the required experience by 39 days?Is the non-submission of an income tax return expressly required by a tender document fatal, where the document was available with the bidder but not uploaded?Does a tender clause providing for obtaining missing documents oblige the tender inviting authority to call for a mandatory document the bidder never mentioned?
Plain-language answer prepared by the LexStreak Editorial Desk — verify against the judgment. Source: Madras High Court. Corrections