HC orders status quo on BEST shield till June 13

MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) will have to wait till June 13 before it takes a final decision of awarding a contract for installation of a glass protection system on its fleet of 270-odd air-conditioned buses and display of advertisements on it.
Vacation judge Justice M N Gilani while dismissing an arbitration petition filed by Topway Multitrade, a private agency, restrained BEST from finalizing the process of awarding the contract and ordered status quo till June 13.
Topway moved the HC after BEST terminated its contract for 10 years in April this year. The company was granted a contract for installation of a glass protection system and display of advertisements on 270 AC buses by BEST from January 9, 2010 to January 8, 2020. The contract was to earn guaranteed revenue of Rs 5,000 to BEST per month per bus.
Topway, in its arbitration petition, claimed that their contract was terminated 'arbitrarily' on April 28, 2011. "The contract was illegally and arbitrarily terminated without following terms," argued the petitioner's advocate. Bharat Mehta.
BEST had called for fresh tenders by placing advertisements in newspapers last month. BEST claimed they would earn a much higher amount if the tender is awarded to another company. The agency claimed they will be losing at least Rs 65,000 per bus if the contract remains with Topway.
"The financial damage will not be repairable," argued the BEST advocate. The RTO had directed BEST to remove advertisements from side panels of all AC buses.
Justice Gilani observed that it was not possible for granting an injunction in such a case, but restrained BEST from proceeding with awarding contracts so that Topway can file an appeal.