HC restrains NDMC, Indus from signing contract for smart poles

Delhi High Court today restrained Indus Towers and New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) from entering into a contract to provide free WiFi and set up CCTVs on 18,500 street poles in areas under the civic body's jurisdiction.
A bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva issued the direction while observing that the tender for the project did not prescribe specifications of the LED lights and CCTV cameras that were to be installed.
The court said since there were no specifications, there was no standard methodology for comparing the bids of Indus and Reliance Jio Infocomm, which had moved the plea seeking quashing of Letter of Intent (LoI) issued to Indus by NDMC.

"Till we hear the matter finally, further action pursuant to notice inviting tender shall not take place. Respondent 1 (NDMC) and 2 (Indus) not to enter into contract till next date of hearing," it said and listed the matter on July 27.
During the hearing on Reliance's plea, the court observed that CCTVs currently installed in Delhi cannot differentiate between a man and a woman due to their low pixel density.
It also observed that poor quality cameras, or lack of them, coupled with poor lighting, were the cause of many a crime in the city and sought to know what the present lighting standards in Delhi were.

NDMC and Indus in response said there was no public interest in the matter as the dispute in the plea was of a commercial nature.
Rejecting the argument, the court said it has the "duty to secure public interest in commercial disputes".
On May 21, Reliance Jio Infocomm had asked the high court to quash the LoI issued to Indus Towers by NDMC but the bench had then refused to pass interim orders while listing the matter for hearing today.