Dinesh Sunil Patil vs. The State Of Maharashtra And Others
Held
The Court held that based on the information provided by the NIC, which showed that numerous documents were uploaded between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. on October 1, 2021, it could not be conclusively stated that there was a problem with the website. Consequently, the Court found that the issue of website malfunction was a disputed question of fact. As the technical bids had already been opened, the Court deemed no interference to be called for in the tender process. The writ petition was disposed of without granting any relief to the petitioner.
Facts
The petitioner, Dinesh Sunil Patil, submitted bid documents for a tender on October 1, 2021, at 4:00 p.m., including the Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) and GST certificate. The petitioner contended that the website malfunctioned, preventing their timely submission through no fault of their own, and that they were an eligible tenderer. The Court directed the Additional Government Pleader to obtain information from the NIC regarding the website's status between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. on the submission date. The NIC provided details of documents uploaded during that period.
Key Issues
1. Whether the petitioner was prevented from participating in the tender process due to a website malfunction, and if so, whether this constitutes a fault on the part of the petitioner. Petitioner's argument: The petitioner argued that the website hanged, and for reasons beyond their control, they were unable to complete their submission, despite being an eligible tenderer. They sought to be allowed to participate in the tender process. Revenue/State's argument: The respondents, through the Additional Government Pleader, presented information from the NIC indicating that a number of documents were uploaded between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. on October 1, 2021. This information was used to counter the claim of a complete website failure. The respondents did not explicitly state their argument regarding the petitioner's eligibility or the website issue, but their submission of NIC data implied a defense against the petitioner's claims.
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Cause title — parties, addresses and appearances
FINAL ORDER : . Mr. Pawar, the learned advocate for the petitioner submits that, the petitioner has submitted the bid documents on 01.10.2021 complete in all respects at 4.00 p.m. The EMD amount, GST certificate and other documents were attached. The Website was hanged. According to the learned counsel for the petitioner, for no fault on the part of the petitioner, the petitioner may not be deprived from participating in the tender process. The petitioner is eligible tenderer.
We had asked the learned Additional Government Pleader for respondent Nos. 1 to 3 to take instructions from the NIC of the position of website from 01.00 p.m. to
The judgment continues below.
Read the full judgment
A free account opens 10 full GST judgments a month (one account works on both bharattax.net and this site). Re-reading one you have already opened does not count again.
The summary, the parties, the sections and the citations above are open to everyone and always will be. Only the text of the order and the PDF are metered.
Reproduced from the public record of the Bombay High Court. Verify against the court's own copy before relying on it. Income tax judgments are on bharattax.net.