By IANS,
Shimla : The Himachal Pradesh High Court Thursday dismissed a petition filed by Indian energy major Reliance Energy challenging the allotment of a multi-million dollar hydro power project by the state government to Brakel Corp NV of the Netherlands.
A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Jagdish Bhalla and Justice Sanjay Karol, dismissed the petition as infructuous after the state counsel informed the court about the state cabinet’s July 7 decision to issue a show cause notice to Brakel, asking why the allotment of the contract for the project to the company should not be cancelled.
The judges observed that the court’s intervention was not required at this point of time as the government had already started the process of reviewing the allotment of the Thopan-Powari-Jangi hydro power project in Kinnaur district, 300 km from here, to Brakel Corp.
Counsel informed the court that the government has already issued a show-cause notice to Brakel July 19, asking why the power project contract awarded to it should not be cancelled and the Rs.1.95 billion deposited with the government as upfront premium not forfeited.
The government took a serious note of Brakel Corp allegedly giving wrong information regarding its financial and technical competence.
It also decided that fresh global bids would be invited for the project in case the contract to Brakel was cancelled.
Brakel Corp is yet to respond to the show-cause notice.