Telangana HC declines to halt Radial Road-2 tenders, seeks inclusion of successful bidder in case | Hyderabad News

Hyderabad: Refusing to stay the tender process for the proposed Radial Road-2 project, the Telangana high court on Monday directed Sushee Infra and Mining Limited to implead the L-1 (lowest) bidder, which has emerged successful in three project packages, as a party to its challenge against disqualification from the tender process.The company has approached the court questioning its disqualification at the technical bid stage for various packages of the “Construction of Radial Road-2 from ORR at Kothwalguda (Budwel) to NH-167N near Nacharam” project being executed by Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited (HGCL).A bench of Justice B Vijaysen Reddy directed the state govt and other respondents to file their counters within two weeks. Noting that both technical and financial bids had already been opened and that the successful bidder had been identified, the court declined to grant interim relief.“At this stage, issuing interim orders that could stall the tender process would not be in the public interest,” the bench observed.The petitions relate to three packages of the project: Package 1 from Budwel to Shabad, package 2 from Shabad to Gudur, and package 3 from Gudur to Nacharam.Counsel for the petitioner argued that the L-1 bidder’s quoted price for the three packages was about Rs 600 crore higher than the rates quoted by the petitioner company.“If the petitioner’s contention was not considered, the state exchequer would face an additional burden,” the counsel submitted while seeking a stay on further tender proceedings.Opposing the plea, govt counsel argued that judicial interference was unwarranted at this stage since both technical and financial bids had already been opened and the tender process had substantially progressed.“Since the projects involved infrastructure works, any order obstructing their execution would be inappropriate,” the counsel said, relying on judgements of the Supreme Court and various high courts.The dispute also centres on the validity of an experience certificate submitted by the petitioner. While the authorities contend that the experience certificates furnished by the company are invalid, the petitioner maintains that the certificate relied upon by it fully satisfies the tender conditions.Taking note of the rival submissions, the high court said issues relating to the validity of the experience certificate and the authority of the officer who countersigned it would be examined after the respondents filed their counters.The court clarified that its observations were confined to the question of interim relief and should not be construed as a final adjudication on the merits of the case.It further observed that the issue of interim orders would be reconsidered after the successful bidder is impleaded and that its directions could be modified, if necessary. The bench also noted that the present order is open to challenge through a writ appeal.