The work contracts were awarded even after an FIR was lodged against contractors and third-party auditors on the direction of the municipal commissioner and a show-cause notice to blacklist them was issued 21 days later.
The Bombay High Court on Friday stayed four road contracts awarded to private contractors against whom the municipal corporation had directed to file an FIR after finding several irregularities in their earlier works.
A vacation bench of justices BR Gavai and Dr Shalini Phansalkar Joshi, while staying the road contracts estimated to be worth around Rs110 crore, including the construction of the Hancock bridge, noted, "Needless to state that all persons holding power hold it in public trust and cannot use the same as per their whims and fancies, it has to be in public interest only."
The bench, however, has refused to stay the road project between Andheri and Dahisar even though the contractor has been named in the FIR. The reason being the proposed Metro, to which the road project is connected, is being undertaken by the MMRDA.
The work contracts were awarded even after an FIR was lodged against contractors and third-party auditors on the direction of the municipal commissioner and a show-cause notice to blacklist them was
issued 21 days later.
The bench said, "It can't be believed that the standing committee was not aware of directions issued by the commissioner. When rules themselves state that on suspension a contractor cannot be permitted to even participate in the bidding process, prima facie we are of the view that the process of suspension was delayed with an ulterior motive, to give an umbrella to award contracts to the accused contractors."
The court has also asked the civic body to consider taking appropriate action against the subordinate officers who delayed in issuing the show-cause notice. The bench said, "It will be for the municipal commissioner to examine why it took so long to issue the notice and take action. We leave it to the BMC to consider whether the work order issued on May 6 was with an ulterior motive to protect the contractors."
As per the FIR filed by the civic body, it has been said that samples of 34 roads out of the 200 worked on by the six contractors were checked randomly and irregularities in terms of work carried out and instances of overpricing were found.
The court, while staying the contracts awarded till June 9, said, "Public officers cannot misuse public money and cannot be detrimental to public interest."
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