Mandatory Tender Conditions Cannot Be Relaxed After Bid Submission; Deviation from Essential Tender Conditions Vitiates Procurement Process: Punjab & Haryana High Court Quashes PSPCL’s Award of Contract

Case Name: Kannect Engineers Pvt. Ltd. v. Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd. and Others

Date of Judgment: 07.07.2026

Citation: CWP No. 8897 of 2026

Bench: Justice Deepak Sibal and Justice Lapita Banerji

Held: A public authority cannot dilute or waive mandatory eligibility conditions of a tender after submission of bids by permitting a bidder to furnish essential type test reports at a later stage when the tender expressly required such reports to accompany the bid. While courts ordinarily exercise restraint in matters relating to government contracts, judicial review is warranted where the tendering authority acts arbitrarily or departs from mandatory tender conditions, thereby compromising fairness and transparency.

Summary: PSPCL invited bids for the supply, installation and commissioning of 1,000 Class-A Power Quality Meters. The Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) required every bidder to upload, along with its bid, type test certificates demonstrating compliance with prescribed IEC and other technical standards. The NIT further stipulated that failure to upload these certificates would result in outright rejection of the bid.

Following a pre-bid meeting, PSPCL issued Corrigendum-IV permitting bidders who had already submitted an IEC 61000-4-30 Edition 3 (Class-A) type test report containing certain shortcomings to furnish an undertaking to rectify those deficiencies before commencement of supply. The corrigendum, however, did not authorize submission of fresh or altogether missing type test reports after the bid submission deadline.

The petitioner challenged the award of the contract to respondent No.3 on the ground that the successful bidder had failed to upload several mandatory type test reports with its bid and was subsequently allowed to furnish them months later, even after issuance of the purchase order. The petitioner contended that such relaxation fundamentally altered the eligibility conditions and unfairly favoured the successful bidder.

The High Court accepted the petitioner’s contention. It observed that the mandatory requirement of submitting prescribed type test reports along with the bid could not be converted into a post-award contractual obligation. The Court found that PSPCL had issued the purchase order despite not possessing all mandatory technical certifications, thereby acting contrary to the express terms of the NIT. It held that Corrigendum-IV merely permitted rectification of deficiencies in already submitted IEC 61000-4-30 reports and did not permit filing entirely new mandatory test reports after the last date for submission of bids.

While reiterating the settled principle that constitutional courts ordinarily refrain from interfering in tender matters, the Court held that judicial intervention becomes necessary where the decision-making process is arbitrary, irrational or contrary to mandatory tender conditions. Since PSPCL had materially deviated from the tender conditions in favour of the successful bidder, the award could not be sustained.

Decision: The Punjab & Haryana High Court held that PSPCL acted arbitrarily by awarding the contract despite the successful bidder not having submitted all mandatory type test reports along with its bid. The relaxation granted was beyond the scope of Corrigendum-IV and contrary to the mandatory provisions of the NIT, rendering the tender process legally unsustainable.