HC moved against tender for intelligent transport system in Chennai

CHENNAI: A litigant has approached the Madras High Court for a direction to quash a tender notification issued by theState governmentto implement the Chennai Metropolitan Area Intelligent Transport Management System (CMAITMS) under the smart city project with the loan assistance of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The petition came before the first bench of Acting Chief Justice T Raja and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy. The petitioner named R Nathiyazhagan filed this plea to quash the tender notification dated November 10, 2021.

According to the petitioner, the initial cost proposed for implementing the Chennai Metropolitan Area Intelligent Transport Management System was Rs 660 crore, but a GO was issued to increase the project cost to Rs 900 crore. However, the tender was awarded only for the value of Rs 436 crore, Nadhiyazhagan's affidavit read.

"While this is the case, the tender was awarded to a company that quoted a very low price approximately 50 percent of the total cost of the total project value," the petitioner added.

He further pointed out that the authorities have fixed Rs 75,000 as the cost for buying the bidding documents to take part in the tenders. "The tender notification was issued against the manual for the smart city project. The tender notification was completely against the Tamil Nadu Tender Transparency Act," the petitioner added.

Recording the submissions, the judges directed the petitioner to furnish the GO issued by the government to raise the project value and adjourned the matter.