Madras High Court has directed the Tender Evaluation Committee of Tamil Nadu Urban Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation (TUFIDCO) not to proceed with a 100-crore tender related to smart city project in the state.

The order came following the petition filed by Acetech Machinery Components India Private Limited, Coimbatore, and was related to the implementation and maintenance of common cloud system governing the citizen mobile application and e-governance in smart cities.

As per reports, in the petition, the company sought to set aside the RFP (Request for Proposal) declaring Larsen and Toubro Limited (L&T), Mumbai, as L1 (lowest value bidder, who is awarded the project contract), vide notification dated August 7, 2018.

The company stated that TUFIDCO failed to follow the terms and conditions of the RFP and declared L&T as L1. It also alleged that L&T does not qualify under the technical conditions of RFP.

The petition also mentioned that the evaluation process had not been done in accordance with the norms and that TUFIDCO had also failed to disclose the method of calculation to arrive at a conclusion that L&T is L1.

Claiming that the evaluation process carried out by TUFIDCO is arbitrary and illegal, Acetech sought a re-evaluation of the bids as per the rules provided in RFP and award the contract to the petitioner.

Justice R Mahadevan directed the authorities to not to proceed until the document is filed. The matter has been posted to September 3 for further hearing.

The matter relates to the Smart Cities Mission (SCM) programme, initiated by the Central Government in 2015, with a mission to develop 100 cities all over the country, which are citizen-friendly and sustainable with ‘smart solutions’. The Union Ministry of Urban Development is responsible for implementing the mission, in collaboration with the state governments.