AP High Court stops Maytas payment

By S A Ishaqui

Hyderabad, April 13: In a major jolt to Maytas Infra Ltd owned by the family of the disgraced ex-Satyam boss B. Ramalinga Raju, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday asked the state government not to allot any work to the company on nomination basis hereafter.

A division bench comprising Justice Goda Raghuram and Justice Noushad Ali gave this directive while passing interim orders on a petition.

The bench also ordered the government not to make any payment to the company for the works in Gandikota reservoir in Kadapa district awarded to it on nomination basis under the relief and rehabilitation package.

The bench found fault with the action of the government’s indiscriminate allotments to the Maytas Infra without inviting tenders and also expressed its dissatisfaction at the government not filing a counter affidavit in the case even after the hearing was adjourned twice.

While granting two more weeks to the government to file the counter, the bench observed that a lot of public money could be saved if the government had invited tenders for the works, instead of awarding it to a particular company.

This was the second setback to the Maytas Infra in regard to Gandikota reservoir. The court had earlier quashed a GO issued to award road works worth Rs 120 crore to the company.

The bench was dealing with a petition filed by Mr K. Ramesh Reddy of Kadapa district, challenging the awarding of works worth several crore rupees on nomination basis to Maytas without inviting tenders.

Mr P. Veera Reddy, counsel for the petitioner, told the court that the government awarded works worth Rs 196.54 crore by splitting it into different packages ranging from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 crore.

He said the panchayat raj and irrigation departments awarded Maytas Infra works relating to construction of roads, drainage lines, water supply and sewerage lines and laying of electricity lines to colonies meant to rehabilitate families affected by the Mylavaram project.