Writ against fiber venture

Hyderabad, June 11: A writ petition was filed in the AP High Court challenging the state government‘s order to form of a joint venture company with Power Grid Corporation, AP Transco and Online Media Solutions Limited (OMSL) for laying of optic fiber lines in the state.
Mr. M. Thimma Reddy, Convenor of Peoples Monitoring Group on
Electricity-Regulation in his writ petition stated that a proposal was mooted in 1998 to form a joint venture to lay optic fibers. Earlier, AP Transco had the exclusive rights over this.
According to the petition, the Power Grid Corporation was roped in as pre selected partner and it was decided that private parties will be invited as third partner to create Joint Venture Company.
The AP Transco and Power Grid Corporation agreed in 2001 that they would jointly invite a third JVC partner and it would be selected through global invitation. It was also decided that the third party would have balance equity of 51 per-cent in the project.
The Transco would be holding equity of 26 per-cent and the Power Grid
Corporation would hold an equity up to 23 per-cent. Subsequently, a notification for global invitation for bids to select a third joint venture partner was issued on February 22, 2002.
After that 51 per-cent equity was given to the consortium comprising the
OMSL, Videcocon and Swernium Multi ventures (SML).
The petitioner alleged that the bank guarantee submitted by OMSL in 2002 after receiving the Letter of Intent was forged.
He told the court that the concerned bank had recommended police action against the OMSL, but it failed to evoke any response.
The petitioner submitted to the court that in December 2007, they came to know that the government issued a GO. Ms. No. 116, insisting that the
Transco form a joint venture company with the OMSL.
He said that it came as a shock to all of them when it was reported as early as in October 2006 that the project was being dropped.
The petitioner urged the court to restrain all the respondents from taking any further action in the light of impugned GO.