HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday asked the Andhra Pradesh government to explain how some bids which quoted higher prices for the red sanders were rejected and why the names of the successful bidders are not disclosed.
The bench of Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice Shameem Akther was dealing with a PIL filed by D Basava Sankar Rao, retired forest officer of the city, who submitted that in December 2014, A-grade red sander was sold at an average rate of Rs 1,95,54,300 per ton, while the B-grade red sander was sold at Rs 90,78,390 per ton and C-grade red sander at Rs 27,57,968 per ton.
The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the government now permitted sale at Rs 38,56,926 per ton for A-grade, Rs 28,90,690 per ton for B- grade and Rs 15,17,109 for C-grade all in the name of e-auction. He contended that the total loss is Rs 726,92, 19,113.
On the other hand, small items like beads, powder and chips are sold at high rates in Lepakshi, Central Cottage Emporium of the Central government. When these rates are taken into consideration the losses will be very high, he pointed out.
He further said that the red sanders is not perishable and it should have been released in a phased manner into the market and not dumped which resulted in glut.
After hearing the case, the bench said that the petitioner can also get some more bidders who can pay higher prices. The bench asked the government to explain the non-disclosure of names of successful bidders and the refusal of higher bids.
The bench posted the matter to next week for hearing.