Govt holds full discretion of tender process, says Telangana HC

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Monday, March 9, ruled that the tendering authority holds full discretion over the tender process, dismissing a plea by a construction company over alleged bias in the process.

A division bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin was hearing a writ appeal filed by a Karimnagar-based construction company, which alleged that the state government had cancelled and reissued road work tenders for Godavari Pushkaralu with mala fide intent to eliminate the firm from the bidding process.

According to the petitioner, the state government had first floated the tenders for road works in Rajanna Sircilla in November 2025. However, after submitting bids, the tenders were cancelled and later reissued with revised timelines and increased project values.

The works in question were initially valued at Rs 50 crore and included improving and widening a road from Arnakonda village to Mallial X Road for the Pushkaralu preparations and another road from Vemulawada to Sirikonda.

When the tenders were reissued in January, the completion period for the Pushkaralu project was reduced from 18 months to 12 months, and for the Vemulawada road work to six months from 15 months, leading the firm to claim mala fide intent.

In response, the state government submitted that the revisions were done as additional drainage works had to be incorporated, and the works needed to be completed before Godavari Pushkaralu scheduled next year.

Same petition was dismissed earlier

The same petition had previously been dismissed by a single-judge bench observing that judicial review in contractual and tender matters was limited in scope.

The judge had also noted that the petitioner failed to produce any substantive proof indicating bias, procedural violations or irregularities in the decision-making process.

In the current hearing, Additional Advocate General T Rajinikanth Reddy argued that the tender conditions allow authorities to cancel the process at any stage prior to the award of a contract without assigning specific reasons.

Hearing the argument, the court dismissed the plea.