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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, DEC 13: The Supreme Court has ruled that public interest litigants and private parties obtaining stay against implementation of projects should be made liable for cost escalation of the project if ultimately the petitions fail in courts.
"When such a stay order is obtained at the instance of a private party or even at the instance of a body litigating in public interest, any interim order which stops the project from proceeding further, must provide for the reimbursement of costs to public in case ultimately the litigation started by such an individual or body fails," the apex court said.
A division bench comprising Justice Sujata V Manohar and Justice B N Kirpal made this observation while upholding Maharashtra State Electricity Board’s decision to award the contract for supply of large pipes and tanks to Khaperkheda thermal power station recently.
IVR Construction Ltd, which was one of the bidders, had obtained a stay against the award of contract from Bombay High Court on the ground thatthe board had relaxed criteria for Raunaq International.
"If the board has accepted the offer of Raunaq International Ltd after weighing their requirements against the qualifications of the two competing bidders, we fail to see how the High Court could have intervened and stayed the operation of the award of the contract to it," the apex court said.
The Supreme Court said "unless a High Court is satisfied that there is a substantial amount of public interest, or the transaction is entered into mala fide, the court should not intervene under Article 226 in disputes between rival tenderers". "Intervention by the courts may ultimately result in delay in the execution of the project. The obvious consequence of such delay is price escalation," the bench observed.
Asking the courts to be even more careful in case of the litigations challenging power projects, the apex court said, "if it’s a power project which is thus delayed, the public may lose substantially because of shortage in electricity supply and theconsequent obstruction in industrial development."
"If the project is for the construction of a road, or an irrigation canal, the delay in transportation facility becoming available or the delay in water supply for agriculture being available, can be a substantial setback to the country’s economic development," it said.
The bench said that before entertaining a writ petition and passing any interim order in such petitions, the court must carefully weigh conflicting public interests.
"Only when it comes to a conclusion that there is an overwhelming public interest in entertaining the petition, the court should intervene," the bench said, and added that court should not substitute its own decision for the decision of an expert evaluation committee.
Enron eyeing power transmission
NEW DELHI: With its Dabhol mega power project well on course, American energy major Enron has evinced interest in the electricity transmission and petroleum pipeline sectors in the country. "We have long-termstrategies for India, which is one of the most important emerging energy markets of the world. We are interested in different sectors like electricity and gas transmission, pipelines and LNG," Enron international president Joseph Sutton said.
Enron would synchronise its plans with the developments on the policy front which are expected to lead to the opening up of these infrastructure segments, he said. Asked about Enron’s plans to enter into the renovation and modernisation of ageing power plants in the country, he said, "we had bid for NTPC’s plan of setting up a joint venture R&M company, but we were not successful."
