NT Reporter
Panaji
Public interest demands that genuine systemic failures be corrected, but it equally demands that concluded auctions should not be lightly reopened, the High Court of Bombay at Goa observed on Thursday while dismissing a petition challenging the auction process relating to the Cavorem-Maina Mineral Block No XVIII.
A Division Bench comprising Justices Valmiki Menezes and Hiten S Venegavkar said that allowing the petition would unsettle the finality of the auction on a speculative basis.
The court said that it would also create an undesirable precedent in internet-based public auctions, where an unsuccessful bidder, after seeing the competing bid and the auction result, could seek a restart by relying on user-side screenshots of browser errors. Such an approach would impair public confidence in e-auctions and discourage serious participation.
The court said that the petitioner had failed to establish that the alleged disruption originated from the MSTC platform. It said that there was a no evidence indicating that any other bidder had suffered a similar impediment.
Petitioner Agravanshi Pvt Ltd had challenged the auction process.
The High Court said that it was not laying down an absolute rule that courts can never interfere in an e-auction on the ground of technical failure.
It said that where records demonstrate a service-provider-side failure, manipulation, denial of equal opportunity, arbitrary resumption, suppression of logs, mala fide conduct, or multiple contemporaneous complaints from similarly situated bidders, a writ court may intervene.
However, the court stated that such jurisdiction is
exceptional.
