HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Monday declined to order an interim halt to the tender process for the construction of Radial Road-2 (RR-2), observing that stopping the process at this stage may not be in the public interest.
Justice B Vijaysen Reddy also directed Sushee Infra and Mining Limited, which has challenged the rejection of its technical bids, to implead the successful L-1 bidder as a respondent before the question of interim relief is reconsidered.
The judge said the question of interim relief could be reconsidered after the L-1 bidder was impleaded and the respondents filed their counters. The court directed the respondents to file their counters within two weeks.
Justice Vijaysen Reddy was hearing three writ petitions filed by Sushee Infra challenging the rejection of its technical bids for the 81.15-km RR-2 project, which will connect the Outer Ring Road (ORR) to NH-167N near Nacheram via Kothwalguda (Budwel). The project is divided into three packages.
The petitioner’s bids were rejected on the ground that its experience certificates did not bear the countersignature of the superintending engineer.
Senior counsel Avinash Desai, appearing for Sushee Infra, submitted that the High Court could grant interim relief in exercise of its writ jurisdiction. He contended that the L-1 bidder’s quoted price for the three packages was around `600 crore higher than that of the petitioner, and that overlooking its bids would impose an additional burden on the state exchequer.
Desai argued that the experience certificate submitted by the petitioner was valid and had been used for all three tenders. He said the certificate relating to NH works in Arunachal Pradesh had subsequently been countersigned by the superintending engineer concerned.
The petitioner also contended that it had not been given an opportunity to clarify or rectify the alleged defect during the technical bid evaluation. The requirement for a countersignature, Desai argued, was not expressly prescribed as a mandatory condition in the main tender document but appeared only in an annexed form.
Opposing the plea, Additional Advocate General Tera Rajnikanth Reddy submitted that both technical and financial bids had already been opened and that an interim order should not disrupt the tender process. He said bidder eligibility had to be assessed by the competent tender authorities.
The AAG further submitted that the petitioner had made no allegations of mala fides against the authorities and that the tenders concerned important infrastructure works. He cited Supreme Court and high court judgments in support of the state’s stand.
After hearing both sides, the judge said the validity of the experience certificate and the status of the officer who had countersigned it would be examined in detail after the respondents filed their counters.
Justice T Vinod Kumar to take oath tomorrow
Justice Tadakamalla Vinod Kumar, who has been transferred from the Madras High Court back to the Telangana High Court a month before his retirement, will be sworn in at 10.15 am on Wednesday. He was originally appointed as a judge of the Telangana High Court on August 26, 2019, before his subsequent transfer to the Madras High Court.