Tripura HC annuls smart card tender, orders fresh bidding process

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, July 10, 2026

The Tripura High Court has set aside the award of a contract for the state's smart card-based driving licence and vehicle registration certificate project, holding that the tender evaluation process was arbitrary, discriminatory and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.

A division bench of Chief Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao and Justice Biswajit Palit allowed a writ petition filed by M-Tech Innovations Ltd, which had challenged its disqualification from the bidding process for the five-year project.

The court held that the Transport Department had wrongly rejected the company's technical bid despite its submission of the required financial documents under the tender conditions. It observed that the authorities had misinterpreted the eligibility criteria and sought to justify the rejection on grounds not supported by the request for proposal (RFP).

The bench also found that similar deficiencies in the bid submitted by the successful bidder, Rosmerta Technologies Ltd, were overlooked, amounting to unequal treatment.

"If the requirement was waived for one bidder, it could not be selectively enforced against another," the court observed, holding that such differential treatment rendered the tender process arbitrary.

The court further criticised the stand taken by the state authorities, observing that they had raised untenable pleas despite documentary evidence to the contrary. Reiterating that the government must act as a model litigant, it cautioned against relying on false or technical grounds to defeat legitimate claims.

The bench quashed the contract awarded to Rosmerta Technologies Ltd, set aside the work order and agreement, directed the Transport Department to issue a fresh tender, and ordered the state authorities and the company to pay litigation costs of Rs 20,000 each to the petitioner within six weeks.

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