The State government on Wednesday informed the Kerala High Court that steps had been initiated to blacklist RDS Projects Ltd., which had carried out the construction of the flawed Palarivattom flyover.
This was submitted in an affidavit filed in response to a petition filed by RDS Projects Ltd. challenging the decision to exclude the tender submitted by the consortium of the RDS and Cherian Varkey Construction Company for the work of upgrading Punalur to Ponkunnam road.
The consortium of the company submitted their tender after furnishing bid security of ₹2,30,000. There were five bidders who participated for the bidding process and in the technical bid, two of them were rejected. In the financial bid, the consortium of the petitioner became the lowest tenderer. However, the government decided to exclude the tenderer, according to the petitioner.
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K.V. Manoj Kumar, Senior Government Pleader, submitted that the employer was competent to reject bid on valid grounds as stipulated in the tender notice. It had come to the notice that an FIR has been registered against RDS under sections of Prevention of Corruption Act and also for criminal conspiracy. RDS had committed serious irregularities and corruption in the construction work in total disregard of the safety of the road users and the general public. Therefore, the bid submitted by RDS being the lead member in the consortium was liable to be rejected.