3 months ago
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The Madras High Court connected Tuesday (February 3, 2026) restrained Tamil Nadu authorities and Tamil Nadu State Highways Authority (TANSHA) from issuing enactment bid to the palmy tenderer for the operation of the 14.2 km agelong elevated corridor from Tiruvanmiyur to Uthandi connected the East Coast Road (ECR) successful Chennai, too widening the roadworthy into six lanes, astatine an estimated outgo of astir ₹2,100 crore.
First Division Bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G. Arul Murugan passed the interim bid connected a writ entreaty filed by disqualified bidder Dilip Buildcon Limited, based successful Bhopal, which claimed it had quoted implicit ₹600 crore lesser than Hyderabad based KNR Constructions Limited whose method and fiscal bids had been recovered to beryllium successful bid by TANSHA.
The judges ordered the enactment bid should not beryllium issued until the adjacent day of proceeding of the writ entreaty and directed the High Court Registry to database the entreaty adjacent connected February 12. They besides made it wide the interim bid would not travel successful the mode of TANSHA communicating to the appellant company, the reasons for having rejected its method bid connected December 24, 2025.
The entreaty had been preferred against the dismissal of a writ petition filed by Dilip Buildcon seeking a absorption to TANSHA to reconsider its method bid. Senior counsel C. Manishankar, assisted by advocator M. Ashwin Kumar, accused TANSHA of not having assigned immoderate crushed for rejecting the method bid of their lawsuit and besides alleged preferential attraction had been fixed to KNR Constructions.
However, the azygous justice had refused to let the writ petition aft accepting the submissions of Advocate General P.S. Raman, who appeared for the State authorities arsenic good arsenic TANSHA, and elder counsel Vijay Narayan, representing KNR Constructions, that the Tamil Nadu Transparency successful Tenders Act, 1998 does not contemplate disclosure of reasons for rejection anterior to the grant of the tender.
The A-G had told the tribunal negotiations were underway with KNR Constructions for reducing the magnitude quoted by it and hence, the reasons for having rejected the method bid of Dilip Buildcon would beryllium posted connected the tender bulletin committee lone aft the grant of the tender to the palmy bidder. He had besides contended the tender process could not beryllium scuttled astatine the intermediate stage.
On his part, Mr. Narayan had stoutly denied immoderate benignant of preferential attraction having been shown by TANSHA to KNR Constructions and contended that the second was afloat eligible to enactment successful the tender process erstwhile the notification calling for bids was issued connected August 25, 2025. He said, the past day for submission of tenders was extended lone to clarify doubts raised by bidders and not to accommodate his client.
Assisted by advocator Vaibhav R. Venkatesh, the elder counsel had contended KNR Constructions was a reputed operation institution that had successfully completed galore projects, crossed the country, including the elevated road task for a region of 10.10 km on the Avinashi Road successful Coimbatore city.
