SC dismisses Kerala, Lanco appeal on Vizhinjam

The Supreme Court today dismissed the appeals of the Kerala government and a consortium led by Hyderabad-based Lanco Kondapalli Power Ltd challenging the tenders for the Rs 6,000 crore Vizhinjam port in Kerala.

The Supreme Court upheld the Kerala high court order to include Mumbai-based Zoom Developers Pvt Ltd also in the consortiums bidding for the project and proceed with the tender process within 15 days. The government’s plea for more time was rejected.

The Kerala High Court had suspended all tender activities related to the Vizhinjam International Seaport Ltd, the nodal agency for developing a modern, all-weather deepwater seaport and container trans-shipment hub near Thiruvananthapuram.

The high court had objected to the state government's decision to approve the tender submitted by Lanco-led consortium. It had also asked the government to reconsider the bid of Zoom Developers.

A bench consisting of Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice S H Kapadia upheld the high court order  which had approved of Zoom’s qualifications and allowed the opening of the technical and financial bids.

The evaluation committee had earlier rejected Zoom’s bid, citing violation of the conditions in the tender documents. Zoom then challenged the disqualification and the state government's decision to award the contract to Lanco.
    
The consortium that gets the project can run the port for 30 years and then hand it over to the government. Besides Lanco and Zoom, the other bidders were Videocon Industries, Nagarjuna Construction and Apollo Enterprises.