SHILLONG: The construction of the integrated check post at Dawki has hit legal hurdles as the contractor executing the project sought remedy after the work was cancelled.
The case came up for hearing in the High Court of Meghalaya on Tuesday after contractor TK Engineering filed a petition against the Union of India and others.
The petitioner challenged the termination letter issued by the General Manager (Airports), RITES Ltd on January 17.
The contract agreement issued on September 30, 2016, was for the work for “development of Integrated Check Post at Dawki along Indo-Bangladesh border’.
The court, in its order on January 25, as an interim measure, directed that the pending project work “shall not be allotted to any other party”.
The duration of the project was two years and the site was to be handed over to the contractor by November 18, 2016.
According to the petitioner, the causes of delay are attributed to respondents since the project site where the main check gate and a major part of the construction were to be carried out have not been handed over to the petitioner yet.
The second contention of the petitioner is that there were changes in the revised architectural drawings and designs of the integrated check post layout plan and also that there was delayed clearances from the Forest and the Mining departments, besides the obstruction to construction due to land disputes with locals. In spite of the hurdles, the petitioner has completed more than 52-53 per cent of the work as stipulated in the contract.
The petitioner pointed out that the respondents are trying to allot the remaining work to other contractors in a nontransparent manner, at the risk and cost of the petitioner and even the bank guarantee of Rs 3,31,34,743, has already been encashed and the petitioner was served with the cancellation order.
After the respondents questioned the maintainability of the petition, the single bench headed by justice H S Thangkhiew observed that the action of the respondents in cancelling the contract in the most arbitrary manner warrants immediate intervention and the remedies under the arbitration or civil suit will not be as efficacious in the present facts and circumstances of the case.
The court said the challenge to maintainability of the writ petition fails and the case will be processed for final hearing.