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Status quo on Vizhinjam bids ordered

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered maintenance of status quo till January 5 next in implementing a directive of the Kerala High Court to consider the bids of Zoom Developers for the construction of the proposed Vizhinjam Deepwater Container Transhipment Terminal.

A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice A.K. Ganguly ordered status quo after hearing Additional Solicitor-General Gopal Subramanian for the Vizhinjam seaport and senior counsel K. Parasaran for Kerala.

The High Court had on December 5 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 cancelled.

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.

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 and an interim stay on the directions. The apex court posted the petitions for hearing on January 5, 2009.

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