Despite assurances to provide police with modern equipments and machinery post the 26/11 terror attack, Pune police had to cancel the order of two bomb suits citing lack of funds and permission from the Maharashtra government.
After floating tenders in February last year for the same, Mumbai-based company Technotrade Impex was given the contract to supply the suits, which were worth over Rs13 lakh for the Bomb Disposal and Detection Squad (BDDS).
However, in October last the special branch of the Pune police in a letter to the company cancelled the order of the suits due to lack of funds and requisite permission from the state government.
The company has now approached the Bombay high court seeking for it to direct the Pune police to accept delivery of the two suits.
"After inviting tenders and issuing custom duty certificates to the company for import of the suits, how can the police now cancel the order," the company's advocate Ashok Sarogi told PTI.
"Such security equipments are the need of the hour now considering terror attacks. Just recently a bomb ripped apart the German Bakery in Pune. What if the BDDS team were required to defuse a bomb? How could they have done it without proper protection," Sarogi questioned.
The high court is expected to hear the petition next week.
The company, which is a supplier of various security products to law-enforcing agencies, had also approached the Pune commissioner of police in December last year.
"Following the contract, we had imported two bomb suits worth Rs13,88,000 from United States for the BDDS in Pune. However, with the cancellation, we do not know what to do with these suits," the company has said in a letter addressed to the police commissioner.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), special branch in his letter to the company stated they have not received permission and funds from the state government for the purchase of the two suits.
"Further purchases of security equipment will be made by the Director General of Police (DGP) of the state as directed by the home department of Maharashtra government," the letter states.
The company in its letter has requested the police commissioner to accept the delivery of the two suits considering terror threats.
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