HC asks NGO to withdraw application in pending PIL on Kandla Port

The Delhi High Court today asked a petitioner to withdraw its application seeking cancellation of a lease awarding 50 acres of land at Kandla Port in Gujarat to a private firm.

The fresh application was filed in a pending PIL by an NGO, the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), which had alleged that a huge scam had taken place during 1960s and 1970s when plots near Kandla Port were leased out on nomination basis to private parties without a bidding process.

A bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar, however, said the fresh application by the NGO prima facie had an independent cause of action and could not be entertained as an application in the pending PIL.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for CPIL, withdrew the application with a liberty to file a fresh petition in this regard.

The application had sought direction for cancellation of lease of 50 acres of land awarded allegedly through a "sham tender" to a firm, Friends Salt Works and Allied Industries (FSWAI).

It had alternatively sought recovery of Rs 207 crore from the firm which was to be paid by the bidders other that FSWAI in case they succeeded in the bid.

It said the tender was awarded to the firm in April 2015 for allotment of 50 acres land for the purpose of liquid storage tanks.

The application claimed that the amount of Rs 207 crore included in the tender was the overvalued cost of the liquid storage tank terminal division constructed by FSWAI on the land during the previous lease.

"The Kandla Port authorities, instead of directing the FSWAI to remove the said structures from the land as per the original lease agreement, valued the said structures at Rs 207 crore. Further such amount was overvalued since the balance sheet of the FSWAI valued the cost of the said structures at Rs 48 crore," it claimed.

It said the tender contained a clause where bidders other than the FSWAI had to pay an additional cost of Rs 207 crore as reimbursement.

The application said the introduction of this clause in the tender was "illegal and arbitrary" as it was the responsibility of the FSWAI to remove the structures before the expiry of the lease.

The initial PIL, which was earlier adjourned sine die by the court, had alleged irregularities in allotment of 16,000 acres of government land which caused a huge loss to the state.

The NGO, in the PIL, had said despite repeated reports from the Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) of Kandla Port Trust indicting involvement of senior officials in serious charges of corruption, the ministry as well as the Chief Vigilance Commissioner did not take any meaningful action.

It had also alleged the conduct of the Ministry of Shipping was in violation of the various provisions of Major Port Trust Act, 1963 and also guidelines of the government.