Fresh tender for Auckland-Lakkar Bazar lifts, travellators under High Court scrutiny
Shimla, Sep 7
The fresh tender floated for the engineering, manufacturing, procurement, installation, testing and commissioning of lifts and travellators from Auckland area to Police Chowki, Lakkar Bazar, in Shimla Smart City, has come under the scrutiny of the Himachal Pradesh High Court.
The issue came up before a Division Bench headed by Chief Justice G.S. Sandhawalia in a petition filed by M/s Sky International against Ropeway and Rapid Transport and other respondents. The court, in its order dated September 3, noted that the dispute relates to termination of the work and that a fresh tender had already been floated.
The court recorded that an earlier interim order dated January 30, 2026, had specifically noticed the fresh tender and directed that any award of the contract would remain subject to the final outcome of the writ petition.
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The High Court has now listed the matter for October 8, 2026, after allowing the petitioner’s plea for early hearing. Punjab & Sind Bank has also been impleaded as a respondent in view of the dispute concerning performance bank guarantees.
The petitioner had also challenged the proposed encashment of bank guarantees. The court stayed encashment of a bank guarantee of Rs 16.05 lakh after finding a prima facie case in favour of the petitioner. However, it declined to stay another bank guarantee amounting to Rs 18,90,996, referring to the settled law governing interference by courts in bank guarantees.
The order also records that the petitioner had submitted completion certificates for works at Vikas Nagar and Jakhoo, including a Vikas Nagar project commenced on April 21, 2022 and completed on February 28, 2025, with the quality of work rated “very good.”
The court has directed the respondents to file a detailed reply to the stay application, while the petitioner has been asked to file replication before the next date of hearing.
If you intended a separate ropeway tender mentioned in another document, send that tender/order and I can recast this specifically around the ropeway project.
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