[CCTV in police stations] Bombay High Court demands undertaking from contractors on work completion

The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the contractors appointed by the Maharashtra government to file an undertaking setting out the duration required to finish the installation of CCTV cameras inside police stations. [Somnath Giri v. State of Maharashtra & Ors.].Advocate-General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni informed a Bench of Justices SJ Kathawalla and Justice Milind Jadhav that the two contractors were regretful of the delay.He apprised the Court of the good work that had been done by the contractors in the past, which was the reason for their selection in the present ₹60 crore project.“They are saying that their system helped the Delhi administration in identifying the culprits in Delhi riots,” the AG submitted for one of the contractors.The Bench mused as to why the government did not choose a company like Larsen & Toubro that had installed CCTV cameras on the traffic signals of Mumbai.Kumbhakoni replied that L&T did not want to engage in a small-scale project.“It is very awkward to say in open court, but L&T says that it doesn’t want to engage in ‘paan-bidi’ shop work. ₹65 crore was too less for them,” Kumbhakoni quipped in response.To this the Bench emphasised that budget should not have been a consideration as long as the top court's order is complied with. “Let the budget be ₹650 crores. We don't mind. The project should be completed. The Supreme Court order must be complied with fully. We just want the end result," the Bench said.Justice Kathawalla expressed his dissatisfaction at the manner in which the tender was handed over.“There were thirteen more bidders and these two were selected by State only because the bid was considerably low and very similar to each other,” Justice Kathawalla added..The Bench had in an earlier called for a status report on the installations at police stations and what work had been completed after the Supreme Court order.They directed the contractors to remain present so that the Court could interact with them.On Friday when the contractors were present in Court, the Bench of Justices SJ Kathawalla and Milind Jadhav enquired about the reasons for delay in the installation work.The contractors, Javi Systems India Pvt Ltd, a Bangalore-based contractor and Sujata Computers, a Pune-based contractor, had been granted tenders to install CCTV cameras at police stations.While expressing regret at the delay, they informed the Court about their willingness to give an undertaking that would explain the delay, and a blueprint about the timeline for completion of work.They stated that about 65 per cent of the work had been completed and remaining work would take about 8-10 days.The Bench directed the contractors to submit the undertaking and posted the case for hearing on March 15, 2022.