Karnataka HC Dismisses Electrical Contractors’ Appeals Over 2019 Mysuru Electricity-Work Tenders as Infructuous

The appellants challenged a 21 January 2019 tender notification inviting bids for electricity-distribution work in Mysuru, alleging that it was arbitrary and discriminatory

The Single Judge, by order dated 22 July 2019, found no basis for judicial-review interference and left the appellants free to pursue the remedy available under the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements Act, 1999; the appellate authority was directed to decide any appeal independently of the Single Judge’s observations

The appellants appealed.

At the hearing, no one appeared for them, and the respondents submitted that the appeals had become infructuous because the tenders dated back to 2019

The Court referred to the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements Act, 1999, as providing a remedy through which the appellants could challenge the procurement process

The judgment records the Single Judge’s conclusion that the tender challenge did not warrant interference in the exercise of judicial-review powers, but cites no further statutory provisions, precedents, or distinct legal test

The Court noted that the Single Judge had declined to interfere with the tender notification and preserved the appellants’ statutory remedy under the 1999 Act

In the appeals, the appellants were unrepresented, while the respondents submitted that the tenders had been floated in 2019 and the matter had therefore become infructuous. The Court accepted that submission and did not undertake further consideration of the tender’s legality

dismissed the writ appeals as infructuous