Ruling that mere participation in a tender process does not grant any enforceable right to bidders, and the tendering authority retains full discretion over the process, the Telangana High Court on Monday dismissed an appeal filed by a construction firm challenging the cancellation and re-issuance of road development tenders.
A bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin heard a writ appeal filed by a construction company against the rejection of its petition by a single judge.
The dispute relates to road widening works proposed in view of the upcoming Godavari Pushkaralu and development works in the temple town of Vemulawada. The projects, undertaken by the R&B department in Rajanna Sircilla district, were estimated to cost about Rs 50 crore.
The works included widening and improving the road stretch from Arnakonda village to Mallial X Road for the Pushkaralu preparations, and another road from Vemulawada to Sirikonda aimed at improving connectivity to the temple town.
According to the petitioner, it had submitted bids when the tenders were first floated in November 2025. However, the government later cancelled the initial tender notifications and issued fresh ones in January with revised timelines and increased project values.
Under the revised notifications, the completion period for the Pushkaralu road project was reduced from 18 months to 12 months, and that for the Vemulawada road work to six months from 15 months. The firm alleged that these changes were made with mala fide intent to eliminate it from the bidding process.
Defending the decision, the state government submitted that the revisions were necessitated by administrative requirements. These included the need to incorporate additional drainage works in villages along the road alignment and the urgency to complete the projects before the Godavari Pushkaralu scheduled in July 2027.
In February 2026, the single judge had dismissed the petition, observing that judicial review in contractual and tender matters was limited in scope.
The court also noted that the petitioner had failed to produce any substantive evidence indicating bias, procedural violations or irregularities in the decision-making process.
During the appeal hearing, Additional Advocate General T Rajinikanth Reddy argued that the tender conditions empower the authorities to cancel the process at any stage prior to the award of a contract without assigning specific reasons.
Accepting the argument, the bench dismissed the appeal.
HCAA polls on March 26
The Telangana High Court Advocates Association (HCAA) on Monday announced that its elections will be held on March 26, with results to be declared the same day. As per the notification, the final voters’ list will be published on March 9.
Nominations will be accepted from March 10 to 12, while March 13 has been fixed as the last date for withdrawal of nominations and publication of the final list of candidates. Polling for various posts will take place on March 26, followed by counting and declaration of results on the same day.
Nomination fees have been fixed at Rs 60,000 for president, Rs 50,000 for vice-president and Rs 40,000 for secretaries. Candidates for additional secretary, treasurer and sports and cultural secretary must pay Rs 30,000 each. For executive committee posts, the fee is Rs 25,000 for the 25-year standing category, Rs 20,000 for the 15-year standing category and Rs 10,000 for others.
Under the women’s reservation policy, the posts of additional secretary and two executive committee members have been reserved for women candidates. The notification was issued after discussions on reservations earlier in the day.