The Andhra Pradesh High Court has held that the requirement of mentioning the Unique Document Identification Number (UDIN) provided by chartered accountant (CA) is manifestly implicit in the Tender Conditions and it is indispensable.
The bench of Justice Gannamaneni Ramakrishna Prasad has observed that the rejection of the bid of the Writ Petitioner for non-mentioning of UDIN in the Annual Turnover Certificates and the Balance Sheets is neither discriminatory nor illegal or arbitrary.
The Superintendent Engineer, Department of Rural Water Supply & Sanitation, Vijayawada had issued tender the Notice for the work of ‘Operation and Maintenance of CPWS scheme to Battinapadu and 34 other habitations for the year 2025 to 2026’ with an Estimated Contract Value (EMV) of Rs.63,61,806/- via e-procurement portal; and that as the Writ Petitioner has executed similar works on the previous occasions, the Writ Petitioner has participated in the tender.
The Writ Petitioner found that the bid submitted by him was rejected when he had opened the portal. The petitioner was told by Official that the ground for rejection of the bid of the Writ Petitioner was due to non-furnishing of Unique Document Identification Number (UDIN) on the Annual Turnover Reports and the Balance sheets that were duly issued by the Writ Petitioner’s Chartered Accountant.
The petitioner contended that the tender document never specified the compulsion of furnishing UDIN along with Annual Turnover Reports and the Balance Sheets and therefore, the Official Respondents ought not to have disqualified the Writ Petitioner in the technical bid on the ground that the Writ Petitioner did not furnish the UDIN along with the Annual Turnovers and the Balance Sheets.
The issue raised was whether the requirement of providing UDIN by the full-time Chartered Accountants for the documents issued by them relating to Audit Reports etc., is manifestly implicit in the Tender Conditions?
The court stated that in pursuance of the Notification of the ICAI, in the year 2019 the mandatory practice of mentioning of UDIN has been in vogue since 2019 and therefore, this practice had been followed in respect of the every Tender Notification.
The court held that all the full-time Chartered Accountants across the nation have ‘adapted to’ and ‘adopted’ this mandatory practice. Therefore, it does not lie in the mouth of the Writ Petitioner to contend that he was not aware of this indispensable practice, particularly in the light of the fact that the Writ Petitioner is a seasoned Civil Contractors.
Case Details
Case Title: Sri Guttikonda Seshukumar Versus The State of Andhra Pradesh
Case No.: Writ Petition No: 16902 Of 2025
Date: 17/07/2025
Counsel For Petitioner: Kasim Nag Asaim
Counsel For Respondent: GP
