2 ex-civic chiefs misused position in awarding Harni lake contract: High court

AHMEDABAD: Terming it a 'tentative opinion,' Gujarat HC on Tuesday said two former municipal commissioners of Vadodara were guilty of dereliction of duty and misuse of their position in awarding contract of the redevelopment project of the Harni Motnath Lake, where 14 people, including 12 school kids, died following a boat capsize on January 18 this year.
In its interim order on a suo motu PIL on the Harni Lake tragedy, the bench of Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Pranav Trivedi referred to the fact-finding committee's report in detail and said that there was an apparent illegality in awarding the contract. It recorded the role played by two former municipal commissioners, HS Patel and Vinod Rao, in selection and award of contract for lake redevelopment to Kotia Projects on PPP model and opined that the firm was not qualified for the work. The order reads, "In our tentative opinion, both the municipal commissioners posted at relevant point of time are guilty of dereliction of duty and misuse of their position. In any eventuality, M/s Kotia Projects cannot be said to be a qualified bidder in the process and, as such, there was no question of its selection."