Patna HC cancels Bihar ambulance contract to firm of JDU MP’s kin
The contract, given to PDPL on May 31, was for running 2,125 ambulances as part of the Dial 102 service. Under this, ambulances ferry critical patients, pregnant women, and infants to the nearest government hospitals free of cost.
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On Friday, the High Court disqualified PDPL and directed the state to consider allowing the petitioner’s bid from the technical bid stage.The Patna High Court Friday cancelled a contract worth Rs 1,600 crore allotted to Pashupatinath Distributors Private Limited (PDPL), a company run by family members of JD(U)’s Jehanabad MP Chandeshwar Chandravanshi.
In June, The Indian Express had reported how the RJD-JD(U) government in Bihar brushed aside remarks by the High Court and ignored a series of audits that flagged irregularities to renew, for another five years, the contract to run emergency ambulances across the state to the MP’s relatives. It had also, for the first time, added a clause in the contract that it could be extended by three more years.
The contract, given to PDPL on May 31, was for running 2,125 ambulances as part of the Dial 102 service. Under this, ambulances ferry critical patients, pregnant women, and infants to the nearest government hospitals free of cost. The firm is owned by sons, daughters-in-law and close relatives of Chandravanshi. The MP had earlier said: “It is my relatives’ company and I have no personal say or stake in it.”
Official records investigated by The Indian Express had shown how norms were tweaked amid objections since the Request for Proposal (RFP) was issued on April 5, 2022.
The firms that lost out on the contract, BVG India Ltd and Samman Foundation, had gone to court.
On Friday, the High Court disqualified PDPL and directed the state to consider allowing the petitioner’s bid from the technical bid stage.
A division bench of Justice P B Bajanthri and Justice Arun Kumar Jha said in their verdict: “The petition of petitioner (a consortium of BVG India Ltd and Samman Foundation) is allowed. State Health Society of Bihar is asked to reevaluate and reconsider the bid of the petitioner from the technical bid stage. PDPL’s bid is disqualified as it did not meet RFP (request for proposal). The SHSB should complete the process within two months.”
A detailed court order is yet to be uploaded.
The petitioner’s lawyer, Nirbhay Prashant, told The Indian Express: “The court order came in wake of PDPL not meeting bid conditions of annual turnover. While the RFP asked for turnover of the individual company, it had given cumulative turnover of PDPL and its allied companies. The court had also seen merit in our arguments of PDPL not having requisite experience in running advanced life support ambulances.”
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