CUTTACK: In a significant ruling, the Orissa High Court has quashed the cancellation of a tender floated by the Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) for the Kodingamali bauxite mine, and directed authorities to complete all processes.
Delivering the judgement on a writ petition filed by a private company that had emerged as the successful bidder, the two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice MS Raman directed OMC managing director and officials concerned to proceed with the tender process initiated under the request for proposal dated November 3, 2025.
The OMC had floated the tender on November 3, 2025, for selection of a mine operator for the Kodingamali bauxite mine spread over Koraput and Rayagada districts with an annual target of 35 lakh metric tonne extraction for five years and extendable for another three years.
According to the petitioner company, the entire tender process was completed, including technical evaluation, financial bid opening, and reverse auction, culminating in the finalisation of the lowest bid among the nine techno-commercially qualified bidders. The petitioner argued that it was thus entitled to a work order.
However, before the issuance of the work order, the company discovered through OMC’s portal that a tender cancellation notice dated January 5, 2026, had been issued. Challenging this, the petitioner approached the high court alleging arbitrariness.
Considering the petition, the bench observed, “The entire tender process got concluded after the exploration and finalisation of the lowest bidding price among the techno-commercially qualified bidders. Therefore, after having completed the entire tender process, the petitioner company was entitled to be issued with work order by the OMC.”
“The Tender Cancellation Notice dated 05.01.2025 is bald, cryptic and bereft of reason. It is demonstrably manifest that the chairman, OMC has disbelieved the noting of his own officials justifying the eligibility criteria,” the bench observed.
Rejecting OMC’s justification that a fresh tender might attract more bidders without the restrictive condition, the bench termed the reasoning unfounded and pointed out that the restriction on the sub-contracting had already been addressed through a corrigendum during the pre-bid stage after expert consideration.
Concluding that the decision-making process leading the chairman to direct for cancelling the tender in entirety is flawed, the bench ruled, “From whatever angle the matter is looked at, this court does not find any legality in the order and justification of the chairman OMC to override the views/opinions of the technical experts.”
“The Tender Cancellation Notice dated 05.01.2026 cannot be countenanced and hence, the same is quashed and set aside,” the bench ordered.