High court scraps GO giving Rs 120 cr project to Maytas

The High Court on Friday struck down a GO issued by the state government alloting a road project worth Rs 120 crore to Maytas Infra Limited, a company which was earlier promoted by the family of Satyam Computer Services Limited founder B Ramalinga Raju.

Maytas had secured the order to lay a road near the Gandikota reservoir project in Kadapa district on a nomination basis. The state government had issued a GO allotting the project to Maytas. Following this, a petition was filed in the High Court stating the project of this scale could not be given on a nomination basis.

A highway, near Gandikota reservoir, connecting Kadapa and Anantapur districts would be submerged if the reservoir becomes full. To avoid this, the government decided to lay a new highway away from the site and awarded the project to Maytas as the company had executed the Gandikota reservoirand had men and machine in place.

The court struck down these arguments wondering how works of this scale could be given without calling for estimates or tenders.

A questionnaire sent to the company remained unanswered.