Arbitrary' JNPT tender challenged

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has reserved its order on the writ petition challenging a tender floated by the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) after the petitioners and the JNPT placed their arguments regarding the tender’s legality.

The petitioners, which include heavy vehicle and container owners and an importer, challenged the tender issued by the JNPT aimed at streamlining the container arrival and departure process by creating five zones and stipulating that only truckers with a fleet of 200 trucks can provide services at the port.

The transporters and importer challenged the tender on the grounds that the JNPT was trying to sieve out small transporters and dictate who the importers needed to do business with while it was their prerogative.

A division bench of Justices Anoop Mohta and Anuja Prabhudessai was hearing the petition filed by Maharashtra Heavy vehicle and Interstate Container Union that challenged a tender issued by JNPT through which they invited bids from transport owners to offer services on five routes for the importers. The tender specified that only these transporters with a fleet of 200 trucks would be allowed to pick containers and would have to ply on specific routes only. The petitioners consisting of small transporters owning 5-20 trucks objected to the rule as it would mean loss of livelihood and hence sought directions from the court to quash the tender.

While arguing for the petitioners, senior advocate Sujay Kantawala told the court, “The move by JNPT is intended to put small transporters at a disadvantage and such rules are detrimental to the freedom of doing business as both, transporters would be put out of job and importers would be forced to avail services of only one transporter per route.  JNPT’s power is only to administer the functions within the port area and perform services within it; they cannot block the right of any importer to choose his own transporter, which is outside the port area. The tender is against the constitutional freedom of an individual and hence should not be allowed to be passed,” said Kantawala.

However, Vikram Nankani, senior advocate for JNPT argued that the tender was intended to regulate the flow of traffic as well as conform with the rules of ports as laid down by the government. “At no point is the tender trying to dictate rules. JNPT is a regulatory authority and the tender has been issued in a bid to solve the overgrowing traffic and congestion that the port witnesses. The tender will alleviate the problems of transporting containers as well as conform with the government guidelines for operation of the port,” said Nankani.

After hearing both sides the court asked them to submit their written submissions by Thursday. In the meanwhile, the interim stay granted in an earlier hearing will continue till the final judgement is passed.