HC rejects state plea to sign concession pact for Chudamani Port

In a major setback to the state government, the Odisha High Court on Monday rejected its plea to allow it to sign the concession agreement for the development of Chudamani port.

“The two-judge bench of Chief Justice V Gopala Gowda and Justice B N Mohapatra on Monday rejected the government’s plea to execute the concession agreement for the Chudamani Port as a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the government’s authority to develop minor ports through the MoU route without going through the open bidding process is pending for final disposal in the court,” said petitioner’s counsel Jayant Dash.

The HC, after hearing the plea of the government for grant of permission to sign concession agreement with Essel Mining and Industries, a AV Birla group company, for the Chudamani port project in October last year, had reserved its order on the matter.

 

The High Court had earlier directed the state government not to sign any further MoU or any concessionaire agreement with any port developer without the leave of the court.

Meanwhile, the verdict on the PIL challenging the government authority to sign MoU with private port developers is likely to be pronounced after the summer vacation of the court.

The government plans to develop 14 minor ports along the state’s long coastline involving private operators. Except for Gopalpur port, for which international competitive bids were invited, the state government has allotted port development work to private parties at other locations through direct negotiation without going through the competitive bidding process. So far, three private parties have been awarded rights to develop minor ports at Subarnareka river mouth, Chudamani and Astaranga, while the process to allot the work at eight other places is underway.