A non-participating prospective bidder lacks locus to seek relaxation of mandatory tender conditions.

Manipur State Power Company Limited (MSPCL) issued a tender for construction of a 132 kV transmission line.

The tender required bidders to have completed at least 5 km of qualifying work under a single turnkey work order, submit a mandatory site-visit certificate, and attend the scheduled site visit and pre-bid meeting.

The petitioner did not attend either event and had not completed similar work, although it claimed to have completed 95% of a previous project.

It submitted representations seeking recognition of that work and a further opportunity to visit the site and attend a pre-bid meeting.

After MSPCL did not respond, the petitioner sought writ relief, including permission to participate and relaxation of the tender requirements.

The High Court heard the matter urgently and dismissed the writ petition, also disposing of the connected miscellaneous application.

Whether a prospective bidder that had not submitted a bid and had not complied with mandatory tender requirements had locus to seek writ relief for relaxation of those requirements

Whether the Court should direct MSPCL to permit a further site visit and pre-bid participation, and to consider the petitioner’s 95% completed work as satisfying the technical-experience requirement

Under Article 226, a stranger with no legally cognisable right cannot ordinarily seek mandamus or certiorari concerning another’s affairs; the Court relied on Ayaaubkhan Noorkhan Pathan v. State of Maharashtra, (2013) 4 SCC 465, for that principle.

Judicial review of tender decisions is limited to illegality, irrationality, or procedural impropriety; courts review the decision-making process rather than the merits of the decision, and the tendering authority is best placed to interpret its tender terms. The Court relied on Tata Cellular and the Supreme Court’s statement of these principles in Micky Traders v. L.R.Y. Labour Contractor & Ors., 2026 INSC 1025.

The petitioner had neither submitted a bid nor attended the mandatory site visit and pre-bid meeting, and its requests for relaxation and a fresh opportunity were made after the pre-bid meeting had concluded.

The Court treated the petitioner as a stranger to the tender and held that granting the requested relief would alter essential tender conditions, including mandatory participation requirements.

Further, the petitioner alleged no illegality or impropriety in the tender process that would justify judicial intervention; applying the limited standard of tender review, the Court declined to interfere.

The writ petition was dismissed, the connected miscellaneous application was disposed of, and no costs were ordered.