Allotment of 25 parking areas through e-tender hits roadblock

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 27

The process of allotting 25 parking areas through e-tender process has hit a roadblock. Acting on a petition filed by one of the bidders, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has restrained the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh from creating “any third party rights”.

The Bench of Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain also issued a notice of motion to the Municipal Corporation for March 30. The restrain order will remain in operation at least till then.

The development took place on a petition filed against the Municipal Corporation by LRY Labour Contractor through senior advocate Sanjiv Manrai and SP Garg. Appearing before the Bench, the counsel among other things contended that the petitioner was the highest bidder for e-tender process for 25 parking areas offered by the Municipal Corporation.

The Bench was also told that the advertisement for the same was issued on September 16, 2016, on its website. But the petitioner’s tender was cancelled for administrative reasons without disclosing the same.

The Court was also told that cancellation purportedly due to administrative reasons was the result of mala fide and colorable exercise of power. The petitioner fulfilled the criteria. After successful in the tender process, it was liable to be allotted 25 parking lots initially for three years and extendable up to five year.

The counsel added the cancellation move without assigning reasons was “against all canons of justice inasmuch as the petitioner was not even called or served with any orders to justify the action of the respondent in cancelling the tender”.

He said: “The petitioner has learnt that with the change of the Mayor, there is a change of heart in the Municipal Corporation and now the fresh advertisements are being issued which are tailor-made to suit the candidates those who are close to the corridors of power….

“The order is illegal and arbitrary as the same does not support any valid reason for rejecting the highest bidder. The records and the documents present along with this writ petition would show that every attempt was made by the respondent to find fault with the eligibility of the petitioner….”