ASHOK KEJRIWAL SARANGARH Vs. STATE OF CHHATTISGARH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard Ms. Surya Kawalkar Dangi, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. Prasun Kumar Bhaduri, learned Deputy Advocate General for the State/respondents.

(2.) By this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has prayed for the following relief(s):

(3.) The brief facts of the case are that respondent No.3 issued a Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) bearing No. 1910/Tender/Rural Services/2025-26 dtd. 23/12/2025 for construction of the District Panchayat Building at Sarangarh-Bilaigarh, Development Block Sarangarh, District Sarangarh, with an estimated cost of Rs.3,01,32,000.00. The NIT prescribed various conditions for participation in the tender process, including submission of a duly signed Pre-Contract Integrity Pact as per Clause 11 of the Special Conditions. The petitioner, being eligible, participated in the tender process and submitted all required documents including a duly signed Pre-Contract Integrity Pact in the prescribed format. However, upon opening of the technical bids, the petitioner's bid was rejected through a system-generated email dtd. 16/1/2026 on the ground that the "name of work" was not mentioned in the Integrity Pact. Aggrieved by the rejection, the petitioner submitted a representation dtd. 17/1/2026 explaining that the requirement under Clause 11 was fully complied with and that the Integrity Pact had been uploaded specifically against the subject tender ID. Despite the said representation, respondent No.3 passed an order dtd. 21/1/2026 rejecting the petitioner's technical bid on the grounds that the name of the work was not mentioned in Annexure-J, the document was typed instead of being downloaded from the portal, and that the footer was not written at the end of the document. Hence this petition.