PANAJI
The High Court of Bombay at Goa has dismissed a petition filed by Odisha-based Agravanshi Private Limited seeking resumption or a fresh e-auction of the Cavorem-Maina Mineral Block (XVIII), holding that the company had failed to establish that a technical glitch in the Metal Scrap Trade Corporation (MSTC) portal prevented it from placing a higher bid.
A division bench comprising Justices Valmiki Menezes and Hiten Venegavkar ruled that the petitioner had not produced sufficient technical evidence to prove that the alleged disruption originated from the MSTC e-auction platform rather than from its own technological infrastructure.
The company had contended that the portal became unresponsive during the final stage of bidding on May 12, after another bidder increased its offer to 88.88 per cent. Agravanshi claimed it was ready to place a higher bid and sought either a restart of the auction from the last valid stage or a fresh auction among the qualified bidders. Dharti Dredging and Infrastructure Ltd had bidded the highest.
However, the court noted that during the same period, the MSTC platform was hosting 70 auctions involving 168 items, with 194 bidders placing over 1,000 bids without any communication issues. No other bidder had complained of a technical failure.
The bench observed that screenshots and screen recordings produced by the petitioner only demonstrated that it experienced a browser error and did not prove a server-side failure. It further held that reopening a concluded auction merely on the basis of an unsuccessful bidder's claim would undermine the sanctity and finality of public auctions.
Vacating the interim protection granted earlier, the court allowed the State government and other authorities to proceed with the auction outcome and subsequent steps in accordance with law and the tender conditions. It also rejected the petitioner's plea to stay the operation of the judgment.
