HYDERABAD: IN a setback to GVK Emergency Management Research Institute, a division bench of the High Court on Thursday dismissed its appeal challenging AP government’s decision to declare a consortium of UK Specialist Ambulance Services (UKSAS) Limited and BVG India as the successful bidder for operating the ‘108’ emergency services in the state.
The bench, comprising acting chief justice Ramesh Ranganathan and justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili, passed this order paving the way for BVG India-UKSAS consortium to operate and maintain Emergency Responses Ambulances Services i.e. ‘108’ services across the 13 districts of the state.
Last year, the AP government had called for tenders from eligible and experienced parties to run the emergency services in the state and awarded the tender to the consortium after being satisfied that it fulfilled all the eligibility criteria.
Aggrieved by the government’s decision to declare the consortium as the successful bidder, GVK moved the High Court, contending that the said consortium had not fulfilled the eligibility criteria of three years’ experience and did not have a control room and a call centre used solely for pre-hospital emergency response services. On the other hand, the government claimed that the consortium had fulfilled all the eligibility criteria and that the same cannot be found fault with.