Earlier, the Supreme Court had cancelled contracts awarded without tenders and ordered the state government to start the process afresh. The government then postponed the process at the eleventh hour without giving any specific reason.

Fishing contracts for 54 reservoirs were allotted to different individuals and groups in July 2008, after the government did away with the Government Leasing Policy for Reservoirs of Inland Fisheries-2004 for the first time, claiming that the “tenders hurt religious sentiments of the people”.

The contracts were instead fixed on the basis of upset prices even though the government incurred huge losses in the process. For instance, rights of Bhadar Dam was given at Rs 20 lakh in the last tender process. In July, the same rights were given for just Rs 3 lakh.

The bidders, who were upbeat about the SC verdict coming in their favour, had to return empty-handed from Gandhinagar.

They fought a legal battle in the Gujarat High Court first and the SC later and both the courts reprimanded the state government for not following the tender system. Yet the process got delayed once again at the last minute.

“We were not given any specific reason; we were told at the last moment that it has been postponed due to an emergency. Several bidders had travejled great distances to reach Gandhinagar,” said M Issac, a bidder from Palanpur.

The bidders, who doubt the government's intentions in releasing tenders, said they will soon decide the future course of action in this regard.

"It seems that the government wants to buy time," said a bidder.

While Fisheries Minister Purushottam Solanki and Commissioner A Solanki were reportedly busy in the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors' Summit, 2009, Deputy Commissioner (Fisheries), N Patel said, "The government has postponed the release of tenders at the last minute for emergency reasons."