New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Kerala government to inform it by March 19 whether Hyderabad- based Lanco Kondapalli Power Ltd is out of race for the Vizhinjam harbour project coming up in the State.

A Bench of Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice S.H. Kapadia sought information on Lanco’s status and its effect on the project, if it was out of the race. It also issued notice to Lanco, the Kerala government, IL&FS Infrastructure Development Corporation, Portia Management Services and Vizhinjam International Seaport, the nodal agency for developing an all-weather deepwater seaport and container transhipment hub, on various cross-pleas.

The Bench sought the explanation after the Mumbai-based Zoom Developers alleged that Lanco was out of the race and the highest marks in the technical bid had been given to Maytas-Nagarjuna consortium by the evaluation panel headed by L&T. While the Kerala government has sought directions with regard to the financial bid of Zoom Developers, the latter has sought to restrain the State from finalising or awarding the contract. The Kerala government, which was asked to consider the bids of Zoom within 15 days by the apex court on February 10, said the evaluation committee had found that the latter was not qualified technically to bag the contract for the project at Vizhinjam in Thiruvananthapuram district.

Source: Hindu