Writ against coal import dismissed

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board has told the Madras high court that there was a severe shortage of coal supply by Indian companies and that the stocks would last only for two days as on November 15. A submission to this effect was made by the board before justice K Suguna, who dismissed a writ petition that challenged the boardâ€™s tender process to import five lakh tonnes of non-coking coal from December 2008 to March 2009. The TNEB had said that its four thermal power plants met one-third of the stateâ€™s power requirement, and added that on November 15 it had stocks for only two days. The board had to arrange for imported coal expeditiously and start receiving it in the first week of December, it said. Justice Suguna dismissed the petition saying, â€œthe government must have freedom of contract...The terms of invitation to tender cannot be open to judicial scrutiny because the invitation to tender is in the realm of contract...However, the decision must be free from arbitrariness not affected by bias or actuated by mala fides.â€

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