Andhra Pradesh High Court suspends order cancelling Polavaram hydel plant contract

The Andhra Pradesh High Court in an interim order suspended the order issued by APGENCO cancelling the contract of Navayuga Engineering Company Limited (NECL) to construct the Polavaram Hydel Power plant.

The Andhra Pradesh government through APGENCO issued a pre-closure order to the NECL on August 14 to initiate reverse tendering for the construction of the project.

The engineering company challenged the order in the High Court on Monday. Judge D.V.S.S. Somayajulu heard the arguments and reserved the order for



Thursday.

The NECL argued that the State government’s decision was unfair and unilateral and that it was meeting all deadlines. Counsel for NECL former Advocate General Dammalapati Srinivas told the court that the government cancelled the contract without giving any valid reason and despite good progress of work shown by the company.

Appearing for the government, Advocate General Sriram Subramanyam argued that the re-tendering process would bring down the cost of the project and enable more bidders to participate.