Admitting a Public Interest Litigation filed by former Mayor P R Ramesh, former corporator M Pani and several others, a division bench comprising Chief Justice P D Dinakaran and Justice Mohan Shantanagoudar granted an interim stay and issued notices to the state Government,Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike and other respondents.

The present contract for solid waste management expires on March 31, 2010, but without an elected body and elections looming, the BBMP had shown undue haste in calling for expressions of interest for a contract that is likely to fetch Rs 300 crore per year, the petitioners alleged.

 They contended that there was no need to call for fresh tenders,when there were no elected bodies.

Taking cognisance of the fact, the Court granted an interim stay and adjourned the matter.

Forum welcomes stay

The Karnataka State Political Thinkers Forum has welcomed the stay order given by the Karnataka High Court on the global tender called by the BBMP to dispose of garbage.

In a press note the president of the forum K S Nagaraja stated that it is unfair to call such a global tender of hundreds of crores of rupees when there is no elected body in the BBMP.

Nagaraja said the BBMP should avoid such ambitious projects until an elected body takes over.

Back to single bench

The Division bench comprising Chief Justice P D Dinakaran and Justice Mohan Shantangoudar on Tuesday referred the matter relating to the stay order on the BBMP ward wise reservation list, back to the single bench.

On July 21, former Mayor P R Ramesh had filed an appeal challenging the stay order of the the single bench on the guidelines for the reservation of ward list for BBMP.
However the division bench reverted the matter back to the single bench.