Summary: Anandam Minerals Private Limited lost a bid for a mineral block in Madhya Pradesh because of a technical problem. The court decided against Anandam Minerals' request to restart the auction, saying there wasn't enough proof of server errors.
On January 20, 2025, the Indian government announced an online auction for a license to mine the Surajpura Phosphorite Block in Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh. Anandam Minerals took part, and on May 21, 2025, they were competing with a bid of 70.22%.
Anandam Minerals said that while trying to submit a higher bid at 9:33 p.m., their screen went blank. Despite trying to fix the issue, including using different laptops, they couldn't submit their bid, and the auction ended.
"The screen went blank/white... continued for two to three minutes."
Anandam Minerals quickly reached out to the Ministry of Mines and MSTC, the auction website, through email and phone to report the problem and ask to continue the bidding process.
On May 27, 2025, Sunflag Iron and Steel Company was announced as the preferred bidder. Anandam Minerals challenged this, saying the glitch wasn't their fault.
The Delhi High Court asked an Expert Committee from IIT Delhi to look into the technical glitch. The committee's first report on July 1, 2025, suggested an error might have happened but couldn't definitively say the server was at fault.
After more analysis, the additional report on September 12, 2025, concluded that Anandam Minerals couldn't prove a server-side error. The video evidence was incomplete, missing the upper half of the screen where error messages might have shown up.
"The video does not capture the whole screen... there is a high probability that there was an error."
On December 16, 2025, the court dismissed Anandam Minerals' request, stating there wasn't enough proof of a server error and emphasizing the need to keep the fairness of public auctions.
"The mere possibility of more money in the public coffers does not in itself serve public interest."
The court decided not to restart the auction since Anandam Minerals couldn't provide enough evidence of a server error. The ruling stressed the importance of having solid proof and complete records in cases involving technical issues in online auctions.
