New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on petitions filed by a consortium led by Hyderabad-based Lanco Kondapalli Power Ltd., the Kerala government and others on the implementation of the Rs.6,000-crore Vizhinjam Deepwater Container Transhipment Terminal.

A Bench of Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice S.H. Kapadia reserved verdict after marathon arguments on special leave petitions against an order of the Kerala High Court to consider the bids of Zoom Developers for the construction of the project. Senior counsel K. Parasaran appeared for Kerala, Additional Solicitor-General Gopal Subramanian for the Vizhinjam seaport and senior counsel K.K. Venugopal for Lanco Kondapalli Power Ltd., and senior counsel Harish Salve and Arun Jaitely, on behalf of the respondents.

High Court order

The High Court had on December 5 last ordered that until a decision was taken on the proposal of the Mumbai-based Zoom Developers, the proceedings initiated for awarding the contract to Lanco Kondapalli Power Ltd., Hyderabad, be kept in abeyance.

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

The High Court had given the directions while setting aside a decision of the Kerala government and Vizhinjam International Seaport Ltd. to reject the technical and financial bids submitted by Zoom Developers for the port project. Allowing an appeal from Zoom Developers against a single judge’s order, the High Court had said that the State was not justified in excluding the appellant from the zone of consideration during the bid evaluation stage on the ground that a new partner was added at a later stage. State contention

The State and the Vizhinjam port, in their special leave petitions, submitted that the tendering process that began in 2003 for the project on a build-own-operate-and-transfer basis for 30 years was once terminated due to non-receipt of bids. In 2005 the tender was awarded to a consortium in which Zoom Developers was a member subject to Government of India’s clearance. After internal inquiry the Centre declined security clearance for the consortium.

The petitions said the Bid Evaluation Committee had rejected the bid of Zoom Developers after detailed evaluation and after perusing the Law Secretary’s opinion. Contending that the directions of the High Court could not be implemented, the petitions sought quashing of the December 5 judgment.

Source : The Hindu