Apex court sets aside HC order on Paradip Port

The Supreme Court today set aside the Orissa High Court’s interim order that restrained the Paradip Port Trust (PPT) from reinviting financial bids from the short-listed bidders for developing a coal berth.

The project, which envisages handling coal of about 10 million tonnes, is a piece of major infrastructure work to enable the port to enhance its coal-handling capacity.

A Bench headed by Justice V S Sirpurkar, while disposing of the PPT’s plea, also vacated its stay order granted by another Bench in June.

“We are not happy with the interim order by the High Court. The High Court should not have proceeded with the blanket order and should decide the matter within three weeks... We request the High Court to keep the schedule as directed by us in the strict sense,” the Bench stated.

The High Court’s interim order had restrained PPT from reinviting financial bids from the short-listed bidders for whom security clearance was granted. The short-listed bidders excluded Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL), which was found ineligible in 2007.