Tanker service takes KWSB to court

Two men take the water board to court over its decision to call fresh bids in contracts they had already won.

KARACHI: Two men have taken the water board to court over its decision to call fresh bids in contracts they had already won for a hydrant and tanker service.

A division bench of the Sindh High Court comprising Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Nisar Muhammad Shaikh ordered on Tuesday for notices to be issued to the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board and other respondents for Oct 26 and ordered for these petitions to be fixed with other identical ones.

Petitioners Waqar Mehmood Khan and Sajad Ahmed Kalwar challenged the water board’s decision to refuse them the operation of Landhi No 2 and Korangi hydrants. The petitioners maintain that when the board had called tenders in June this year, they had deposited the two per cent earnest money and later the surety amount. They were declared successful bidders by the evaluation committee which unilaterally enhanced the rate per trip from Rs130 to Rs140. Even though they completed all formalities, the water board is planning to issue new tenders, they said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2010.