Team Herald
PANJIM: The High Court of Bombay at Goa pulled up Transport Department for the ‘needless delay’ in installing the digital meters on cabs. The bench comprising Justices Prithviraj Chavan and N M Jamdar, in the order on Wednesday, also slammed the authority for submitting an affidavit stating that a fresh e-tender would be issued on September 21 despite an earlier one stating that the standards were fixed on July 26, 2018.
In the last hearing, Advocate General Dattaprasad Lawande had indicated a short timeline by which the digital meters would be fitted in taxis operating across the State but the matter was adjourned as the State was to call a report on the technical aspect from the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratory, Pune. The court had requested the authorities in Pune to assist the State authorities expeditiously.
The court on Wednesday also lamented the waste of time citing the hearing on June 12 when the department informed that the sample will have to be sent to ICAT Gurgaon. The bench, here as well, had requested ICAT to cooperate with the State. Further hearings were conducted with developments wherein the government informed that the Bureau of Indian Standards notified new specifications and that the former would scrap the earlier process. The bench expressed it utter dissatisfaction when on Wednesday, Transport Department submitted a new plan postponing the deadline till December 25. The schedule also mentioned that for six months orders will be allotted to lowest bidder after which other eligible bidders will be permitted to install meters at the lowest empanelled rates.
“The explanation given in the affidavit that only when the meeting was held on August 20 with the ICAT and the Goa Electronics Limited, that the authorities came to know about the standards, is difficult to accept,” the order states pointing that the standards are available in public knowledge – BIA website.
“Fact was not brought to our notice immediately. It is not possible to believe that the authorities would not check whether the standards have been finalised. Either there is deliberate delay or lapse on the part of the authorities. Had the officer been vigilant, the process could have been initiated on July 26 and the time of almost two months which is lost could have been saved and so also judicial time,” the bench observed.
The court thus imposed costs of Rs 10,000 on the government for ‘this needless delay’ and left it to the latter to recover the costs from the officer concerned.
During the next hearing on October 10, the State will inform the court process to speed up the implementation with the bench making it clear that steps should be immediately put in motion.
COURT QUOTES
– The explanation given in the affidavit that only when the meeting was held on August 20 with the ICAT and the Goa Electronics Limited, that the authorities came to know about the standards, is difficult to accept.
– Either there is deliberate delay or lapse on the part of the authorities. Had the officer been vigilant, the process could have been initiated on July 26 and the time of almost two months which is lost could have been saved and so also judicial time.
