IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.11264 of 2008 M/S Shubham Construction, at Akhtiyarpur, P.S. Paliganj, District-Patna through its partner Sudhir Kumar Singh …..Petitioner Versus 1. The State Of Bihar through Secretary, Water Resources Department, Govt. of Bihar, Patna. 2. The Chief Engineer, Water Resources Department, Govt. of Bihar, Patna 3. The Superintending Engineer, Ganga Sone Flood Protection Division, Khagaul, Patna. 4. The Executive Engineer, Sone Canal Division, Khagaul, Patna. …….Respondents. ----------- For the Petitioner : Dr. Krishna Nandan Singh : Abhimanyu Sharma : Kamal Deo Sharma For the State : A.K.Dubey, A.C. to AAG 9 ------------ 04. 18.03.2009 The petitioner is aggrieved by the order of the Chief Engineer, Water Resources Department, Government of Bihar, Patna under memo No. 3442 dated 07.07.2008 by which his tender has been cancelled and the matter has been order to be re- tenered. As counter affidavit has been filed. With the consent of the parties, the writ petition is being disposed of at the stage of admission itself. By notice inviting tender No. 3 of 2008- 2009, the Executive Engineer, Sone Canal Division, Khagaul, Patna invited tenders for construction of 2 three different bridges and each were assigned as work group number I, II, and III respectively. The notice inviting tender is Annexure-I. The petitioner filed his tender in respect of group III i.e. Arwal Sipah Khangah Murka distributory bridge. Petitioner was selected and acceptance of his tender was communicated under memo No. 986 dated 27.05.2008. Petitioner was then directed to deposit the security amount of Rs. 55,800/- and execute agreement. Petitioner states that he made several attempts to comply but neither security deposit was accepted nor agreement got signed and all of a sudden he was visited with the impugned order as contained in memo No. 3442 dated 07.07.2008(Annexure-4) by the respondent the Chief Engineer, Water Resources Department, Patna. By the said impugned order petitioner’s tender has been cancelled and directions issued for re-tender. I may clarify that it is only group III that was cancelled and not group I and II. The reason given for cancellation as apparent from the said communication is that the Executive Engineer had wrongly altered the terms and conditions of the notice inviting tender while publishing the same and that the Superintending Engineer did not act in accordance 3 with law. What term was altered in what manner, what were improper action of the Executive Engineer or for that matter the Superintending Engineer is not even whispered much less referred to. It is left to anybodies guess. This Court expected that once the counter affidavit is filed, a more specific reason would be forthcoming. Counter affidavit is equally par excellence in vagueness and uncertainly. It states that due to certain irregularities the tender was cancelled. To say the least, “certain irregularities” are most uncertainly and vaguely state and beyond this there is nothing. What is more curious to note is that by the same notice inviting tender three separate works were settled i.e. group I, II and III. The defect as being sought to be pointed out was common to all the three groups but only petitioner was singled out for cancellation and re-advertisement, the reason whereof the Court and everybody is left to guess. I say no more. On the face of it the order canceling the tender can not be sustained. It discloses no reason nor the reason disclosed in the counter affidavit. State even acting in contractual matter is bound by Article 14 of the Constitution. It has to be fair, 4 reasonable and non-arbitrary. They have to be transparent to evoke public confidence. In the present case, in every aspect the actions taken failed the requirements of Article 14 of the Constitution. The impugned order thus can not be sustained and is quashed accordingly. The authority will now proceed in accordance with law expeditiously as much time has already been wasted for no fault of the petitioner. The writ petition is thus allowed. Shageer (Navaniti Prasad Singh, J)