RAM MOHAN Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Ram Mohan, who states himself to be a public spirited person and social activist associated with various service organisations, has filed this writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India by way of public interest litigation seeking the following reliefs:

(2.) The Court finds from the records of the case that for the reliefs aforesaid, prior in point of time the petitioner made representation dated 16th December, 2006 before the Chief Minister of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram and during the course of argument, it is revealed that the same has not been attended or responded yet. The Court further finds from the records of the case that pursuant to notification issued by the Central Government in the year 2002 for the issuance of Smart Card and Smart Optical Card, Government of Kerala initiated steps in this regard in the year 2006. Photo copy of the notification issued by the Government of Kerala dated 19th June, 2006 has been annexed with the petition as Exhibit P3. It is the case of the petitioner that the Government had initiated steps for the award of contract to implement the above project in February, 2006. Tenders were invited from qualified bidders for the award of the contract and upon the completion of the procedures, the contract had been awarded in March, 2006 to a public sector company, but even after the award of contract, no positive steps have been taken by the Government to implement the scheme in various Regional Transport Offices of the State.

(3.) The representation, Exhibit P5 dated 16th December, 2006, has not been attended or responded to yet. Meanwhile, as mentioned above, notification Exhibit P3 has already been issued by the Government pursuant to the notification earlier issued by the Central Government. In these circumstances, the counsel for the petitioner states that the Court may direct the concerned respondents to deal with Exhibit P5 representation and decide the same as expeditiously as possible.