Days after the Delhi High Court imposed a cost of Rs 12.5 crore on a private company for concealment in a tender matter and ordered that the amount be utilised for installation of a smog tower in the city, the court reduced the fine to Rs 1.21 crore after being told that there was an error in its judgment dated June 1. This means that Delhi would not get a new smog tower as envisaged earlier. The division bench of acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Jasmeet Singh had imposed the fine on SARR Freight Corporation for concealing that they had been banned by the Ministry of Defence for one year and by Food Corporation of India for five years, while bidding for a RITES Ltd tender for engagement of a freight forwarder for transportation of passenger coaches to Mozambique. While noting that contract value is of Rs 125 crore, the court had asked the company to pay 10% (12.50 crore) of it for a public cause — for setting up the smog tower. After the judgment, SARR Freight moved an application before court stating that the value of the contract awarded to it was only Rs 12,14,98,210. RITES also confirmed the assertion and stated that reference to the figure of Rs 125 crore in its counter affidavit related to the value of the consignment of railway coaches which had been lifted by the cranes to be made available under the contract in question. The bench in the order dated June 3 said 10% of Rs 12,14,98,210 is Rs 1,21,49,821 and the amount would be highly inadequate for setting up a smog tower. The court has now directed the firm to deposit Rs 25 lakh each with DSLSA, Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee, Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund and Armed Forces Battle Casualties Welfare Fund. The rest of the amount, Rs 21,49,821, has been ordered to be deposited with the Indigent & Disabled Lawyers Committee.
