KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Monday upheld the state government’s decision to terminate the contract awarded to Erode-based P&C Projects Pvt Ltd for the construction of the building for the Cochin Cancer Centre Institute. The state had cancelled the contract citing delay and poor quality of work.
Inkel was the special purpose vehicle for the Kerala State Infrastructural Investment Fund Board (KIIFB)-funder project. Apart from the delay, the project was in news when a portion of the building under construction at Kalamassery collapsed in November, 2019, injuring six workers.
Justice N Nagaresh issued the order while dismissing the plea filed by the firm challenging the termination of the contract. According to P&C Porjects, the total prescribed period for completion of the project was 730 days from the date of handing over of the project site.
The work began on July 25, 2018, and was expected to be completed by July 23, 2020. However, several untoward incidents caused the delay. Substantial delay was also caused due to Inkel’s failure in clearing the pending bills, resolving the labour issues and approving the drawings, the company said. Denying the charges, Inkel, in its submission, said the company has been delaying the work from the very beginning and completed only 35 per cent of the work so far.