Mandatory tender conditions must be strictly complied with; non-compliant bids cannot be revived in writ jurisdiction.

Mandatory tender conditions requiring submission of a bank guarantee or income tax return with the bid must be strictly complied with at the time fixed for filing. A bidder who fails to enclose the prescribed eligibility document cannot claim a enforceable right to mandamus or seek revival of a non-compliant bid in writ jurisdiction, even if the offer is otherwise advantageous. The rejection of such a bid is therefore legally sustainable, and judicial interference with acceptance of the compliant bidder is unwarranted where the defect goes to the root of eligibility.

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Issues: Whether the rejection of the petitioner's bid for failure to submit the mandatory bank guarantee or income tax return along with the tender documents was lawful, and whether the writ court should interfere with the award of the tender.

Analysis: The tender notice and the governing rules required each bidder to furnish, at the time of submission, a bank guarantee for the stipulated period or the previous year's income tax return. The petitioner admittedly did not enclose a valid bank guarantee with the bid papers and instead relied on an incomplete bank letter that did not contain essential particulars. Such non-compliance went to the root of eligibility and rendered the bid defective. Tender conditions that are essential in nature must be strictly complied with, and a constitutional court does not relax such mandatory requirements or compel acceptance of a non-compliant bid merely because a higher offer was made. Since the petitioner failed to satisfy the mandatory tender condition, no enforceable legal right arose to seek mandamus or to upset the acceptance of the other bidder.

Conclusion: The rejection of the petitioner's bid was valid and the writ court declined interference.

Final Conclusion: The tender process was upheld on the basis that mandatory bid conditions cannot be waived in favour of a bidder who failed to comply with the prescribed eligibility requirement.

Ratio Decidendi: An essential tender condition must be strictly fulfilled at the time fixed for submission, and a bid that omits a mandatory eligibility document cannot be protected or revived in writ jurisdiction.

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