Debarment of a joint-venture partner before LoA permits tender annulment despite eligibility at bid opening.

The petitioner challenged the National Highway Authority of India’s decision dated 27 July 2026 annulling Tender ID No. 2026-NHAI-268092-I and the subsequent Notice Inviting Tender dated 29 July 2026 for the same supervision consultancy project.

The bid had been submitted by a joint venture comprising the petitioner, M/s Yongma Engineering Co. Ltd., and M/s Manglam Infra & Engineering Ltd., and the joint venture had been declared the H-1/successful bidder on 5 June 2026.

However, M/s Yongma was subsequently debarred by NHAI on 18 July 2026 as a non-performer for six months under Clause 7.4.2 of the Consultancy Agreement.

No Letter of Award (LoA) had been issued before the debarment.

NHAI relied on Clause 1.4 of the agreement, which reserved its right to annul the selection process before award of the contract without liability.

Whether the writ petition was maintainable when it was filed by only one partner of the joint venture, without impleading the other two joint-venture partners?

Whether NHAI could annul the tender after one of the joint-venture partners was debarred between the opening of the tender and the issuance of the LoA?

Whether the petitioner was entitled to a direction requiring NHAI to issue the LoA and execute the contract in its favour despite the intervening debarment?

The Court applied the principle that a party seeking relief concerning rights and obligations arising from a joint venture must ordinarily implead all constituent partners, particularly where the relief sought is issuance of an LoA and execution of the contract in favour of the joint venture.

Clause 1.4 of the agreement reserved NHAI’s right to annul the selection process at any time before award of the contract without incurring liability to the consultants.

Clause 7(b) stipulated that contracts could not be placed with debarred firms and that firms must be neither debarred on the date of opening of the tender nor on the date of contract, i.e., the date of issuance of the LoA.

Clause 10.1 of NHAI’s 2022 Standard Operating Procedure provided that bids could be considered only from firms not debarred on either the date of tender opening or the date of issuance of the LoA; contracts concluded before the debarment order, however, would remain unaffected.

The Court held that the petitioner’s claim was inseparable from the rights of the joint venture and its other partners.

Since M/s Yongma and M/s Manglam were not parties to the petition, and the petitioner sought issuance of the LoA and execution of the contract in favour of the joint venture, the relief could not be effectively granted in their absence.

Although Yongma was not debarred when the tender was opened, it was debarred on 18 July 2026, before issuance of the LoA and before execution of the contract.

Clause 7(b) expressly required the bidder to be free from debarment both on the tender-opening date and on the contract date.

Since no LoA had been issued by the date of debarment, the tender had not matured into a concluded contract and NHAI was entitled to treat the debarment as affecting the proposed award.

The Court therefore found the annulment consistent with the contractual clause and the applicable NHAI procedure.

The Court declined to direct NHAI to issue the LoA or execute the contract.

The respondent’s statement that the petitioner, in its individual capacity, could participate in the fresh tender—whose last date for submission was 24 August 2026—was taken on record.

The pending applications were dismissed as infructuous.