Thane bypass contract challenged

The Bombay High Court today admitted two petitions, including a public interest petition filed by leader of opposition Chhagan Bhujbal ch...

The Bombay High Court today admitted two petitions, including a public interest petition filed by leader of opposition Chhagan Bhujbal challenging the contract for widening the Thane-Bhiwandi bypass. Bhujbal8217;s petition claimed the contract, awarded without calling any bids, would cost the public Rs 754.89 crore.

A division bench of Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice S H Kapadia held that the matter could not be kept pending. A continuous final hearing for disposal of the case is to begin from next week.

Bhujbal, along with another contractor, Ajay Constructions, has petitioned HC against the terms drawn up by the state, the Union of India and the contractors, Ideal Road Builders, wherein Rs 69.30 crore were to be awarded to Ideal on BOT build-operate-transfer basis for widening the Thane-Bhiwandi bypass. Ideal thus gets to levy a toll on vehicles at a 20 per cent interest rate compounded monthly.

What is interesting is that Ideal Road Builders had been awarded a contract for improvement andresurfacing of the 23 km bypass lane at a cost of Rs 17 crore. With the company being given a concession period of seven years and eight months, it was allowed to levy a toll till August 2003. The toll is on at present.

When the state decided to widen the bypass, instead of calling for fresh tenders, it gave the contract to Ideal allowing it to construct the lanes at a cost of Rs 69.30 crore.

Varsity seeks dismissal of plea against Bhujbal Jr

The University of Mumbai today urged the Bombay High Court to dismiss the petition filed by senior Shiv Sena leader Vijay Loke against Pankaj Bhujbal and his father Chhagan Bhujbal, claiming that the admission application to the Institute of Distance Education IDE that was purported to be by Pankaj Bhujbal was not accepted.

In an affidavit, the University pointed out that in the year 1996, around 200 admission forms were suspected to be forged, and with false certificates from the graduating universities. The entire matter, the affidavit claimed, hadbeen forwarded to the Criminal Investigation Department CID for further investigation.

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The varsity informed the court that the petition bases itself on the fact that Pankaj Bhujbal obtained a certificate from the IDE after submitting false documents, while the fact was that he was not admitted at all.After the university claimed that the petition was politically motivated since the list submitted to the CID did not contain Bhujbal junior8217;s name and the petitioners sought more time, the division bench of Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice S H Kapadia adjourned the petition for a week.