In its October 2015 decision in South Delhi Municipal Corp v. Ravinder Kumar, the Supreme Court of India upheld a municipality’s decision to retender a public works contract because the rates offered by the low bidder were too high. The Supreme Court noted that the low bidder’s rates were significantly higher than those offered in similar recent contracts and that as a “custodian of public money” the municipality had a duty to ensure the reasonableness of the rates paid under its contracts. The Supreme Court found that the municipality’s retender decision was not arbitrary or unreasonable but was made to “serve the best interest of the public.”
