APHC010476262025 IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH WRIT APPEAL NO: 1013/2025 Writ Appeal under clause 15 of the Letters Patent to allow the Writ Appeal by setting aside the impugned Order dated Learned Single Judge in W.P. No. 16902 of 2025 and pass Between: 1. GUTTIKONDA SESHUKUMAR, S/O VEERA RAGHAVAIAH, AGED ABOUT 56 YEARS , R/O P NO 202,ACHYUTHA RESIDENCE, BESIDE KVR COLLEGE, NANDIGAMA,KRISHNA DISTRICT, ANDHRA PRADESH 1. THE STATE OF AP, REP BY ITS PRINCIPAL SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF PR,RD AND RWS, SECRETARIAT, VELAGAPUDI, AMARAVATI, GUNTUR DISTRICT. 2. THE ENGINEER IN CHIEF, DEPARTMENT OF RURAL WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION SAIPURAM COLONY, GOLLAPUDI, VIJAYAWADA 3. THE SUPERINTENDENT ENGINEER, DEPARTMENT OF RURAL WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION, VIJAYAWADA DIVISION, MG ROAD,OPP PWD GROUND, ZP COMPOUND,VIJAYAWADA, NTR DISTRICT, MOBILE 4. THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER, DEPARTMENT OF RURAL WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION, VIJAYAWADA DIVISION, MG ROAD,OPP PWD GROUND, ZP COMPOUND,VIJAYAWADA, NTR DISTRICT. 5. JASTI RAMA SUBRAMANYESWARA RAO, 303B, SIRI GREEN JEWEL, NR.PR COMMISSIONER OFFICE, TADEPALLI, GUNTUR DISTRICT, ANDHRA PRADESH EMAIL -RSSRJASTI@GMAIL.COM IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATI (Special Original Jurisdiction) WRIT APPEAL NO: 1013/2025 Writ Appeal under clause 15 of the Letters Patent to allow the Writ Appeal by setting aside the impugned Order dated 17.07.2025 passed by the Learned Single Judge in W.P. No. 16902 of 2025 and pass GUTTIKONDA SESHUKUMAR, S/O VEERA RAGHAVAIAH, AGED ABOUT 56 YEARS , R/O P NO 202,ACHYUTHA RESIDENCE, BESIDE KVR COLLEGE, NANDIGAMA,KRISHNA DISTRICT, RADESH-521185. ...APPELLANT AND THE STATE OF AP, REP BY ITS PRINCIPAL SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF PR,RD AND RWS, SECRETARIAT, VELAGAPUDI, AMARAVATI, GUNTUR DISTRICT. THE ENGINEER IN CHIEF, DEPARTMENT OF RURAL WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION C-BLOCK, VASUDHA SHELTERS, SAIPURAM COLONY, GOLLAPUDI, VIJAYAWADA - 521225. THE SUPERINTENDENT ENGINEER, DEPARTMENT OF RURAL WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION, VIJAYAWADA DIVISION, MG ROAD,OPP PWD GROUND, ZP COMPOUND,VIJAYAWADA, NTR DISTRICT, MOBILE-9100121306. THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER, DEPARTMENT OF RURAL WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION, VIJAYAWADA DIVISION, MG ROAD,OPP PWD GROUND, ZP COMPOUND,VIJAYAWADA, NTR JASTI RAMA SUBRAMANYESWARA RAO, 303B, SIRI GREEN COMMISSIONER OFFICE, TADEPALLI, GUNTUR DISTRICT, ANDHRA PRADESH-522501 MOBILE RSSRJASTI@GMAIL.COM ...RESPONDENT(S): IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH [3483] Writ Appeal under clause 15 of the Letters Patent to allow the Writ 17.07.2025 passed by the GUTTIKONDA SESHUKUMAR, S/O VEERA RAGHAVAIAH, AGED ABOUT 56 YEARS , R/O P NO 202,ACHYUTHA RESIDENCE, BESIDE KVR COLLEGE, NANDIGAMA,KRISHNA DISTRICT, ...APPELLANT THE STATE OF AP, REP BY ITS PRINCIPAL SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF PR,RD AND RWS, SECRETARIAT, THE ENGINEER IN CHIEF, DEPARTMENT OF RURAL WATER BLOCK, VASUDHA SHELTERS, 521225. THE SUPERINTENDENT ENGINEER, DEPARTMENT OF RURAL WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION, VIJAYAWADA DIVISION, MG ROAD,OPP PWD GROUND, ZP COMPOUND,VIJAYAWADA, NTR THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER, DEPARTMENT OF RURAL WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION, VIJAYAWADA DIVISION, MG ROAD,OPP PWD GROUND, ZP COMPOUND,VIJAYAWADA, NTR JASTI RAMA SUBRAMANYESWARA RAO, 303B, SIRI GREEN COMMISSIONER OFFICE, TADEPALLI, GUNTUR 522501 MOBILE-9949660278 ...RESPONDENT(S): HCJ & RCJ W.A.No.1013 of 2025 2 IA NO: 1 OF 2025 Petition under Section 151 CPC praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed in support of the petition, the High Court may be pleased the to condone the delay OF 8 days in filing in W.P.No 16902/2025 Dt 17.07.2025 . IA NO: 2 OF 2025 Petition under Section 151 CPC praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed in support of the petition, the High Court may be pleased to grant ad-interim ex-parte stay of the proceedings qua Tender Notice No 13/T4/2025-26 dated 06-05-2025 and direct the Respondents not to proceed with the award of contract to Respondent-5. IA NO: 3 OF 2025 Petition under Section 151 CPC praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed in support of the petition, the High Court may be pleased to suspend the operation of orders dated 17.07.2025 passed by the Learned Single Judge in W.P. No.16902 of 2025. Counsel for the Appellant: 1. KASIM NAGASAIM Counsel for the Respondent(S): 1. GP FOR PANCHAYAT RAJ RURAL DEV 2. P SAI SURYA TEJA CORAM: THE CHIEF JUSTICE DHIRAJ SINGH THAKUR SRI JUSTICE RAVI CHEEMALAPATI DATE : 06.09.2025 JUDGMENT Assailing the order dated 17.07.2025 passed by a learned single Judge in Writ Petition vide W.P.No.16902 of 2025, the petitioner therein preferred this intra court appeal under clause 15 of Letters Patent. HCJ & RCJ W.A.No.1013 of 2025 3 2. The parties, hereinafter, will be referred to as per their status in the writ petition. 3. The writ petition was filed challenging the action of respondent no.3 in disqualifying the petitioner’s bid on the ground that Unique document Identification Number (UDIN) was not furnished on the Annual turnover Reports and Balance sheets issued by Chartered Accountant. 4. The learned single Judge upon considering the submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties, dismissed the writ petition. The said dismissal order was challenged in this Writ Appeal. 5. Heard Sri C.Kranthi Kumar, learned counsel for the petitioner, learned Government Pleader for Panchayat Raj and Sri Posani Venkateswarlu, learned senior counsel, representing Sri P.Sai Surya Teja, learned counsel for respondent no.5. 6. Sri C.Kranthi Kumar, learned counsel for the petitioner, while reiterating the contents of the writ affidavit and grounds of appeal would contend that neither the tender document nor the Tender conditions did not specify that mentioning of UDIN in the Annual Turnover Certificates and Balance Sheets was mandatory and therefore rejection of petitioner’s tender on the ground which did not exist in tender notification and documents, is arbitrary and illegal. He would further contend that the notification dated HCJ & RCJ W.A.No.1013 of 2025 4 02.08.2019 only mandates generation of UDIN by the Chartered Accountant qua Audit Reports and it nowhere states that UDIN should be produced on the document when it is submitted for tenders, however the learned single Judge misinterpreted the said notification and erroneously dismissed the writ petition. Accordingly, prayed to allow the writ appeal. 7. Per contra, the learned Government Pleader as well as the learned senior counsel for respondent no.5 sought to justify the impugned orders of the learned single Judge and further contended that Courts should always be loath in interfering in grant of Government contracts having commercial element. They would further contend that Turn Over Reports and Balance Sheets furnished by the petitioner without UDIN number cannot be considered for their authenticity is unknown and therefore, the authorities had rightly rejected the bid submitted by the petitioner and the learned single Judge had analysed the material in proper perspective and rightly dismissed the writ petition. Accordingly, prayed to dismiss the writ appeal being meritless. 8. Perused the material available on record and considered the submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties. 9. Pursuant to the tender notice issued by respondent no.2 for the work of Operation and Maintenance of CPWS Scheme to Battinapadu and 34 HCJ & RCJ W.A.No.1013 of 2025 5 other habitations for the year 2025-26, the petitioner, the respondent no.5 and another submitted their bids. The bid submitted by the petitioner and another were shown rejected in the portal and the reason for rejection of the petitioner’s bid was that the UDIN number was not furnished on the Annual Turn Over Reports and Balance sheets. 10. The Notification dated 02.08.2019 issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) envisages that a member of the institute in practice shall generate UDIN for all kinds of certification. The said notification aims to curb the malpractices of certification by non-chartered Accounts by impersonating themselves as Chartered Account and to counter forgeries of signatures of the Chartered Accounts that mislead the authorities and stakeholders. 11. Condition No.11.10 of the tender notification requires the bidders to furnish audited financial statements for the last five years audited by a Chartered Accountant. 12. In view of the mandate contained in the above said notification, certification made by an Auditor without containing UDIN number can be treated with no value. 13. A conjoint reading of the tender notification coupled with the notification issued by ICAI makes it clear that the financial statements audited HCJ & RCJ W.A.No.1013 of 2025 6 by a chartered accountant as required to be filed by the tender notification must contain the UDIN number. Therefore, the financial statements without containing UDIN number cannot be considered for evaluation of the financial wealth as well as ability of management of the firm to mobilize financial resources. Hence, the condition of submission of audited financial statements to assess the financial wealth had not been met. Thus, the authorities had rightly rejected the bid submitted by the petitioner. 14. UDIN allows the authorities, regulators and third parties to verify the legitimacy of the documents online and the same is aimed at enhancing transparency and accountability in financial and other certifications. So, the contention advanced by learned counsel for the petitioner distinguishing the ‘generation of UDIN’ and its ‘enumeration/production on the document’ is unsustainable, since the certificate issued by an auditor without containing UDIN number does not carry any value and therefore mere generation of UDIN without furnishing the same on the face of the document would be of no avail, as appraiser of the document cannot verify the veracity of the document unless it contains UDIN. 15. In view of the above, the authorities had rightly rejected the bid submitted by the petitioner and the learned single Judge had analysed the material as well as the prominence of enumeration of UDIN number on the documents and had rightly dismissed the writ petition. HCJ & RCJ W.A.No.1013 of 2025 7 16. The order impugned in this writ appeal does not warrant interference of this Court and the Writ Appeal deserves dismissal. 17. Accordingly, the writ appeal is dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs. Pending miscellaneous applications, if any, shall stand closed. DHIRAJ SINGH THAKUR,CJ RAVI CHEEMALAPATI,J RR