The Madras High Court has said it expects the Central Vigilance Commission and the Puducherry government to look into the representation of an environmental organisation regarding the award of a Rs.300-crore contract to a Hyderabad-based company for executing a comprehensive sewerage scheme in the urban areas of Puducherry.
Passing orders on a writ petition, the First Bench comprising Chief Justice H.L. Gokhale and Justice V. Dhanapalan said the authorities after looking into the representation dated February 18 this year in all seriousness will take an appropriate decision at the earliest.
The Bench said it was refraining from passing any further orders inasmuch as public interest litigation was not to be entertained in contractual matters. It disposed of the petition.
The petitioner, Puducherry Environment Protection Association, Koodapakkam, represented by its secretary, K. Irisappan, submitted that the Puducherry government awarded the contract to Ramky Infrastructure Limited, Hyderabad, under the JNNURM scheme pursuant to a tender.
The petitioner contended that the contract had been awarded in violation of guidelines issued by the Central government. The petitioner said he made a complaint to the CBI and sent representations to various higher officials. But the authorities had not acted upon it. Hence, the petition.
