CHENNAI: Public interest in carrying out the project within the stipulated time far outweighs the public interest in holding up the project, observed the Madras High Court while clearing the legal hurdles in commencing the much-awaited Rs 856 crore Tindivanam-Nagari broad gauge (BG) railway line.
The observation was made by a division bench of justices G Jayachandran and N Mala while dismissing a writ petition filed by the Andhra Pradesh-based Harshita-ALTIS JV, which was the unsuccessful bidder for the railway project.
The letter of acceptance (LOA) was issued to the successful bidder, KMC Constructions Limited, based in Telangana, by an order of the Southern Railway (Constructions) dated March 23, 2026.
Seeking an interim stay and quashing of the LOA, Harshita-ALTIS JV filed the writ petition in May before a vacation bench which granted an ex parte ad interim injunction, thereby holding up the project.
Later, the petition came up before the regular bench of justices G Jayachandran and N Mala which passed the orders recently dismissing the petition.
The petitioner company had cited the grounds of initiation of insolvency proceedings and moratorium order issued against the successful bidder and non-furnishing of the performance guarantee.
However, the railways and the successful bidder denied the allegations stating that there had been no insolvency proceedings pending at the time of opening of the bid nor while issuing the LOA.
The division bench held that the reason assigned by the vacation bench for granting the ad interim injunction was untenable since it is contrary to the materials on record.
“For the aforesaid reasons, we find that the interim injunction passed on incomplete and distorted facts has to necessarily be vacated,” it stated.
The bench said there are no compelling reasons to interfere with the award of LOA.
Taking into account the submission of the successful bidder that the interim stay has cost Rs 20 lakh per day by way of non-starting of the project and misleading facts were placed for obtaining interim stay, the bench imposed costs of Rs 1 lakh on the petitioner company and directed it to pay the amount to the High Court Legal Services Committee within six weeks.