CHENNAI: After initially refusing to interfere in the Rs 1,330-crore tender floated by Tangedco to import 20 lakh tonnes of coal the Madras High Court on Thursday warned the power corporation it would review it’s previous ‘no stay’ order if irregularities are found in the tender process. The observation was made by the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy while hearing a PIL filed by C Selvaraj, a retired TNEB assistant engineer.
The petitioner alleged the import of coal from Indonesia would cause huge losses to the exchequer as coal could be bought from Malaysia for much cheaper. Referring to a CAG report, senior advocate KM Vijayan, representing the petitioner, said a report tabled in the State Assembly indicated various anomalies in similar instances of coal being imported by Tangedco. “I can produce more documents to prove loss to the public exchequer,” he added.
In response, the bench said, “It is easy to hint at impropriety or corrupt practices... and raise an atmosphere of suspicion, and quite another to produce hard facts and unimpeachable evidence to establish the same.” Noting that there is no doubt a consistent practice has been followed by Tangedco to seek offers at short notice, the court said, “This clearly arouses suspicion, and the lockdown excuse that was noticed in the order of this court dated March 8 (refusing to stay the tender), would stand considerably diluted if it is found that similar short notices had been resorted to in previous years.”
There is a presumption that when an act is done by any official or a State, it has been done in accordance with the law. Further, courts are required to give a degree of elbow room to PSUs to function freely, the bench said. “At the same time, government organisations cannot... cause loss to the public exchequer for a group of persons to personally benefit therefrom...” the judges added. The court permitted the petitioner to file additional documents, and adjourned the hearing to March 17.