The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought response of the New Delhi Municipal Council on Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd’s plea challenging the award of contract to Indus Towers for providing free WiFi through the 18,500 street poles in the area.
A Bench of Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva issued notice to NDMC and Indus Towers and sought their replies by April 21, the next date of hearing.
The court also refused to give any interim relief to Reliance, which had sought a stay on award of contract of the Rs.220 crore project which also includes replacement of streetlights with LED bulbs and putting up CCTV cameras.
The project is expected to be fully commissioned in three years, but the tender is for a 10-year period. Reliance has challenged the tender on the ground that Indus was held as successful as it had submitted a bid for 20 years, while the contract period is for 10 years.
“After 10 years, it is the discretion of NDMC to extend it for another 10 years or not,” senior advocate Sandeep Sethi, appearing for Reliance, said.
Advocate Malvika Trivedi, appearing for NDMC, submitted that letter of intent in favour of Indus was signed on March 18 as it was successful in the tender process.
She said that decision to award contract to Indus was taken as it had offered to pay Rs.4000 per pole per annum to the civic body as revenue while Reliance had offered only Rs.500 per pole per annum. – PTI
Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd’s plea challenged award of contract to Indus Towers for providing free WiFi through the 18,500 street poles in NDMC area
