Uttarakhand HC Dismisses Offline Tender Plea As Infructuous After Transport Corporation Finds Bid Technically Unqualified

The petitioner sought directions requiring respondent No. 2, the Uttarakhand Transport Corporation, to accept and evaluate its offline tender submission dated 5 August 2025, and to provide an alternative submission mechanism or extend the deadline.

By an order dated 13 August 2025, the High Court directed that the petitioner’s hardcopy technical bid be opened and examined. The tender committee subsequently evaluated it and found the petitioner technically unsuccessful; the Corporation issued a Letter of Intent to the successful bidder on 3 September 2025.

Respondent No. 2 submitted that the relief sought had therefore been provided and the petition had become infructuous.

No statute or precedent was cited.

The Court applied the procedural principle that a petition may be dismissed as infructuous when subsequent events mean that the relief sought no longer survives.

The petitioner had sought acceptance and evaluation of its offline bid. After the Court’s order, the hardcopy technical bid was opened and examined by the tender committee; the petitioner did not qualify at the technical-bid stage, and the Letter of Intent had been issued to another bidder.

In light of these subsequent developments, the Court concluded that the relief sought no longer survived. It did not examine the merits of the petitioner’s technical disqualification.

Any pending applications were also disposed of.