NTPC moves SC against DHC verdict on Ansaldo

NTPC today said it has moved the Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court's ruling that allowed Ansaldo Caldaie Boilers (ACB) to bid for providing super-critical power equipment to the state-run power major.

The company is dissatisfied with the Delhi High Court ruling and hence has approached the Supreme Court, an NTPC official said today.

The power PSU has filed a Special Leave Petition in the apex court after seeking an opinion from the Solicitor General, the official added.

On March 1, the Delhi High Court had set aside NTPC's notice rejecting the bid of Ansaldo Caldaie Boilers, a subsidiary of Gammon India, for building super-critical power plants and directed it to allow ACB to move to the next stage of bidding.

Last week, NTPC Chairman and Managing Director Arup Roy Choudhury had said the firm would be approaching the Supreme Court.

NTPC had rejected ACB's bid saying that it didn't fulfill the minimum criteria stipulated in techno-commercial tender.

The power giant's tender had invited manufacturers to supply a package that includes 11 super-critical boilers and an equal number of super-critical turbines of 660-Mw each.

Apart from ACB, there are four bidders for the tender, namely BHEL, a consortium of L&T Power and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and a JV between BGR and Hitachi Power Europe GmbH.

Chennai-based ACB India is a JV between Ansaldo Caldaie, an Italian boiler manufacturer and Gammon India, which holds a 73.4% stake.