The Madras High Court today restrained state power utility Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited (TANGEDCO) from opening new tenders for Udangudi Thermal power project till the court passes orders on a miscellaneous petition filed by a Sino-Indian consortium of power engineering companies.
Justice M Sathyanarayanan, while reserving orders on the miscellaneous petition filed by CSEPDI-Trishe consortium represented by its Managing Director Sanjay K Pillai, said "bids floated for new tenders shall not be opened by TANGEDCO till the passing of orders in the miscellaneous petitions."
He also permitted BHEL, which was also a bidder for the project, to be impleaded as a party to the proceedings.
The power project preparations, which started in 2013, culminated in the Sino-Indian consortium emerging as the lowest bidder. It outbid BHEL by nearly Rs 137 crore, with cumulative savings amounting to Rs 1,400 crore, the petition said.
Instead of awarding the tender to the consortium, TANGEDCO and other authorities decided to scrap the entire tender process by an order dated March 26 this year. The reason cited for the decision to scrap the deal was that both the bids suffered from certain "technical deficiencies".
Assailing the conclusion and alleging maladies, the consortium moved the court.
TANGEDCO floated a second tender for the same Udangudi project, in which BHEL alone participated, while the matter was seized of by the court.
The second tender process prompted the consortium to file a miscellaneous petition seeking to stop TANGEDCO and other authorities from going ahead with the process any further.
Reserving orders on the miscellaneous petition, Justice Sathyanarayanan restrained TANGEDCO from opening the new tenders till orders are passed.
