The dream of free WiFi in New Delhi is going to be delayed with the Delhi high court on Wednesday directing the NDMC to not sign contract for award of tender for the proposed “smart poles” till it hears detailed arguments in a plea filed by Reliance Jio. The court of Justice Badar durrez Ahmed and Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva on Wednesday pulled up NDMC for "vague" terms of tender for installing 18,300 “smart poles which” would have CCTVs, WiFi and replace the existing streetlights with LED bulbs in the New Delhi area. The court also asked the NDMC counsel why specifications were not given for the standards of the equipment to be installed. "The public will get rubbish lamps and cameras that can't distinguish between a man and a woman" said the court. Reliance Jio had challenged the tender process and LOI issued to Indus Towers by the NDMC for installing streetlights fitted with CCTV cameras, and to provide WiFi, 3G/4G services. During the arguments, Reliance counsel senior advocate Sandeep Sethi told the court that there were no specifics mentioned in the tender. Maintaining that "this vagueness can't stand", the court has for now directed NDMC to not sign the contract till next date of hearing on July 3. Court also noted that the tender RFP does not mention any standards for the instruments to be installed. The project, which is expected to be commissioned in three years, is a service contract, where the company will install, maintain and operate the ‘smart poles’ with streetlights, WiFi and CCTVs for a period of ten years. The contract may also be extended for a further 10 years by the government. Senior advocate Parag Tripathi, appearing for the NDMC, told the court that the government did not give specifications for the equipment due to the long duration of the contract. “We don’t know what technology will be there in 10 years. We need to have a flexible contract” argued Tripathi. The senior lawyer also argued that the basic "standards" were already issued by the Delhi government and both Reliance and Indus had submitted bids, according to the Delhi government standards. The lawyer also argued that the installation of the lights and cameras was "necessary in public interest." "Let Indus start the service. We need streetlights to be put up," said Tripathi. The court, however, said that it was "not interested" in the dispute between the companies. "We are in the interest of the public," said the court. "Do you not want the citizens to have a particular standard of lighting? Don't you know the lack of lights leads to various crimes?" said the court, expressing its worry that companies might "dump" substandard equipment. "If some incident happens and your control room will say sorry we can’t make out anything in the image. There are also 340 pixel cameras where you can't make out if its a man or a woman" said the court. On May 21, Reliance Jio Infocomm had asked the high court to quash the LoI issued to Indus Towers by NDMC but the bench had then refused to pass interim orders while listing the matter for hearing on Wednesday.
