Justice A.A. Ziyad Rahman on Wednesday (September 9) dismissed two petitions filed by competitors in the tender process — P.K. Unique Projects Pvt. Ltd. and P. Ponulingam representing Sree Kumaran Demolishers — challenging the award of the bid to Edifice Engineering, which had ranked first, according to the criteria set by the committee.
The court had earlier temporarily stayed the demolition and directed the district administration to continue preparatory works but to wait for the execution until a decision was made on the petitioner’s allegations.
P.K. Unique Projects had placed third in the overall evaluation, while Sree Kumaran Demolishers had not moved forward from the technical evaluation. The former argued that the criteria and weightage were decided after the financial bid to provide an advantage to Edifice, and the latter claimed that they were not allowed to place their financial bid, despite being qualified.
The District Collector said that the criteria were decided based on expert recommendations, assigning 70% weightage to technical evaluation and 30% to financial evaluation. The criteria addressed safety concerns for the planned controlled demolition, leaving the third tower of the Chanderkunj complex and the nearby Kochi Metro viaduct unharmed.
A structural expert who was involved in the evaluation process said that Edifice Engineering had secured the first place owing to their previous experience in the controlled demolition of Hotel President Clarion, Jain Coral Cove and H20 Holy Faith at Maradu, having heights ranging from 51 to 60 metres, demolition of Supertech Twin Tower in Noida and a commercial building of Raheja in Hyderabad.
The district administration argued that the selection criteria were fixed before the financial bids were invited, placing importance on technical evaluation and its importance in ensuring that nearby buildings were not damaged.
The court observed that the criteria were clearly mentioned in the expression of interest and the pre-bid meeting minutes and found it clear that the tender process was never meant to be a financial process. It rejected PK Unique Project’s contention that the criteria were introduced subsequent to the financial bid, overlooking their lowest offer.
The High Court had ordered the demolition and reconstruction of the two Chanderkunj towers, noticing serious structural issues and the threat it posed to people and property.