STATE TRANSPORT WORKERS ASSOCIATION Vs. STATE OF ASSAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, which is an association of the workers of Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) and registered under the Trade Union Act, 1926, represented by its General Secretary, by the present petitioner has challenged the Notice Inviting Tenders (in short the NIT) dated 22.02.2010 issued by the Chief Executive Officer, Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (in short the GMDA), inviting bids from the reputed companies/firms in respect of 150 buses, for city bus operations purchased with the additional central assistance provided by the Govt. of India under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (in short JnNURM), contending inter alia that pursuant to the announcement of the package by the Govt. of India on 02.01.2009 for providing assistance as a one time measure under JnNURM for purchase of buses for the Urban Transport System and consequent upon approval of the project report by the Govt. of Assam on 18.02.2009 for availing assistance under the said scheme for purchase of buses for Guwahati city, a proposal was submitted by the Govt. of Assam in Transport Department on 23.02.2009 to the Joint Secretary and Mission Director , Ministry of Urban Development, Govt. of India for procurement of 250 nos. of buses of different categories to be placed at the disposal of the ASTC, about which the Chief Minister of Assam by his D.O. letter dated 02.03 .2009 also informed the Minister of Urban Development, Govt. of India requesting him to provide the funds for purchase of said 250 nos. of vehicles to be operated through the ASTC. After approval of the project report by the Govt. of India, as submitted by the Govt. of Assam, the Govt. of India made available the necessary funds for purchase of 200 nos. of different types of buses to be introduced as city service within the Guwahati city area under the JnNURM scheme, which was received by the Govt. of Assam in Transport Department in the middle part of February, 2010. It has also been contended that though the funds for purchase of the buses have been sanctioned by the Govt. of India and received by the Govt. of Assam as per the scheme and the proposal submitted through the ASTC, the said buses, however, are not being allowed to be managed by the ASTC and instead allowed the GMDA to issue NIT from the companies/firms for operating those buses in the city of Guwahati, in each package of routes and accordingly the NIT dated 22.02.2010 has been published by the Chief Executive Officer of the GMDA asking for bids from the companies/firms for operation of the said buses. The further contention of the writ petitioner is that the Govt. of India under the JnNURM scheme allotted buses for city transport to other States also and wherever an organized body like ASTC is in existence, the same has been allowed to be operated by such already existing body or Corporation, but in case of the city of Guwahati, the Govt. of Assam instead of allowing the ASTC to manage and operate the city bus service through the aforesaid buses, fund for which has been sanctioned by the Govt. of India under JnNURM scheme , has allowed the GMDA to manage and operate the same through the private companies/firms though the GMDA has absolutely no authority to do so under the JnNURM.

(2.) Though the State of Assam represented by the Chief Secretary and the Principal Secretary to the Govt. of Assam, Transport Department, are arraigned as respondent Nos.1 and 2 respectively, an affidavit-in-opposition has been filed by the Deputy Secretary and the Nodal Officer for the Department of Transport, Govt. of Assam, on behalf of the respondent No.2, contending that the Govt. of India through the Ministry of Urban Development has made available the fund to the Govt. of Assam in Transport Department for purchase of 200 nos. of different types of buses to be introduced as the city bus service within the area of city of Guwahati. In the said affidavit the respondent No.2, however, has denied that the Govt. of Assam through the Transport Department has purchase the buses in the middle part of February, 2010. The said affidavit apart from saying so, dealing with the averments made by the petitioner in paragraph 9 of the writ petition, nothing has been said relating to the averments made in paragraphs 1 to 8 and 10 to 13 of the writ petition except saying that the respondent No.2 has no comment to make. The authority to issue the NIT by GMDA, which has been challenged by the writ petitioner in the writ petition, has also not been dealt with by the respondent No.2 in his affidavit. The Chief Secretary to the State of Assam though has been made party respondent No.1 in the writ petition, he has chosen not to file any affidavit.

(3.) The GMDA and its Chief Executive Officer, the respondent Nos.3 and 4, have contested the writ petition by filing the joint affidavit-in-opposition giving details about the initiation of the proposal by the Govt. of India for introduction of the city bus services under JnNURM, the submission of the Detailed Project Report (DPR), requirement of formation of the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) structure for management and operation of such city bus service, initial sanction of fund for purchase of different types of 50 buses and subsequent sanction of the fund for additional 150 nos. of buses, the decision of the Govt. of Assam to form a company called Guwahati City Transport Services Limited for institutional management of city bus system and planning and functioning for all public transport in Guwahati to be jointly owned by the GMDA, Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) and ASTC. In the said affidavit, it has been denied that the buses are to be placed at the disposal of the ASTC for running and managing the city bus services, as contended by the writ petitioner. The respondent Nos.3 and 4 have also contended that on 18.09 .2009 a meeting was held under the Chairmanship of the Chief Secretary, Govt. of Assam, with the participation of (i) the Principal Secretary, Transport Department, Govt. of Assam; (ii) Secretary, Guwahati Development Department, Govt. of Assam; (iii) Joint Secretary, Guwahati Development Department, Govt. of Assam; (iv) Deputy Secretary, Guwahati Development Department, Govt. of Assam and (v) Managing Director, ASTC, wherein a decision was taken to create a coordinating body, namely, SPV for running the 200 buses in the Guwahati city, which will also have representations from the GMC and ASTC and the Executive Committee of the SPV shall take operational decisions including route, timings and mode of operating the buses and authorizing the Guwahati Development Department to find out the Revenue Model adopted by other transport corporation of other States. A further decision ,according to the said respondents, was also taken in the said meeting to explore the possibility of providing ASTC with a permanent role in operating the buses as they have the experience and allied infrastructure facilities and even explore the possibility of giving the right of first refusal to ASTC before offering the buses in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode to private players. Relating to the authority to issue the NIT, it has been stated in the said affidavit that pending formation of the SPV, the Govt. of Assam took a decision to authorize the GMDA to call for the bids for the city bus operations and accordingly the NIT dated 22.02.2010 and the corrigendum thereto were issued by the Chief Executive Officer of the GMDA.