HC dismisses Vedanta’s plea for preferred bidder award

Panaji: Giving precedence to public interest over private interest, the high court dismissed a petition filed by Vedanta Ltd seeking directions to the director of mines and geology to issue to it the preferred bidder award and the subsequent letter of intent (LOI) for the Curpem and Sulcorna Mineral Block-XI.

A technical snag prevented one of the bidding companies from enhancing its offer, and govt decided to resume the auction. The HC said it was more than satisfied that the decision of the state to resume the auction was not unreasonable. It added that the decision-making process was fair, transparent, and in public interest.

No prejudice would be caused to Vedanta Ltd by the resumption of the auction, as it was not prevented from bidding, the court said. Precedence has to be given to public interest over the private interest of Vedanta Ltd, the HC said, adding that the company had every opportunity to participate in the auction when it resumed.

“We are satisfied that the decision of resumption of auction from the stage when the technical glitch occurred was taken to ensure fairness, transparency, and equal opportunities to all the bidders in the auction process with an intention to earn the best possible bids/revenue to state govt and also to avoid any unnecessary delays,” said the division bench comprising justices M S Karnik and Nivedita Mehta.

“The ownership and control of the material resources of the community, such as mineral ore, should be so distributed as to best subserve the common good,” the HC said. “The purpose of the auction is to get the best remunerative price by giving bidders an opportunity to participate and to fetch a higher realisable value of the material resources held by the state in trust. There cannot be a vested right in the highest bidder to be declared as the preferred bidder or to be given the LOI.”

Check out our live coverage of Super Bowl LIX and find details on how to watch Super Bowl 2025 live on Times of India.