GORSI CONSTRUCTION PRIVATE LIMITED Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE two petitions are being disposed of by a common judgment since similar questions of fact and law are involved in these cases.

(2.) BRIEFLY stated the facts of the case are that the Border Roads Organisation is entrusted with the task of construction and maintenance of roads in the border areas of the country. The Border Roads Organisation in turn has different divisions in different parts of the country, such as, project Deepak, project Himank, etc. These projects look after the work of construction and maintenance of border roads in their respective divisions. In the present case, we are concerned with the project Deepak in so far it is concerned with the construction and maintenance of the Manali -Leh road upto Sarchu within the State of Himachal Pradesh.

(3.) THE stand of the Chief Engineer, Project Deepak, is that these roads are highly sensitive roads meant for defence purposes and the idea is to get the best organisation to construct the roads. It is submitted that the guidelines of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) are only applicable to projects financed by it. As far as the instructions given by the Boarder Roads Organisation are concerned the stand is that these could not be followed in letter and spirit. It has also been contended that it falls within the scope of the projects to award a contract or not and the eligibility criteria can be changed by the organization awarding the contract. According to the Respondents they are following the guidelines of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC):