Kochi: A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Thursday set aside the decision of the State government and Vizhinjam International Seaport Ltd. to reject the technical and financial bids submitted by the Mumbai-based Zoom Developers for the construction of the proposed Vizhinjam Deepwater Seaport and International Transhipment Container Terminal.

The Bench comprising Chief Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice A.K. Basheer ordered that the Zoom Developer’s bids be considered in 15 days. The court ordered that till a decision was taken on the proposal of the Zoom Developers, the proceedings initiated for awarding the contract to Lanco Kondapalli Power Ltd., Hyderabad, be kept in abeyance.

The Bench also ordered that if the bids submitted by the Zoom Developers were found to be better, the decisions to award the contract to the Hyderabad-based company be canceled.

The directives were issued while allowing an appeal filed by the Zoom Developers against a single judge’s verdict.

The court said it was not justified in excluding the appellant from the zone of consideration during the bid evaluation stage on the reason that a new partner was added at later stage.

Source: The Hindu