Kathmandu, March 15

The Supreme Court today issued a writ as demanded by former energy minister Radha Gyawali against the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority’s decision to seek action against her.

The anti-graft body had asked the erstwhile Sushil Koirala-led government to take action against Gyawali, accusing her of taking inappropriate decisions in connection with the construction of Solu Corridor Transmission Line following which the PM had sacked her.

The CIAA had accused Gyawali of awarding the project to the second lowest bidder.

Similarly, the SC also issued a writ as demanded by former Nepal Electricity Authority Board members Manoj Kumar Mishra, Laxman Prasad Agrawal and Suraj Lamichhane and other defendants against the CIAA.

The anti-graft body had accused them of not following appropriate procedures to award the project.

Senior Advocate Harihar Dahal who defended them in the court said that the apex court had quashed all punitive action taken by the CIAA and the petitioners would be reinstated to their jobs.

The bid evaluation committee of NEA had selected New Delhi based Mohan Energy Cooperation Pvt Ltd  the second lowest bidder  on June 21, 2015 for the construction of the 90-kilometre Mirchaiya-Tingla 132 kV double circuit transmission line and a substation with the same capacity at Tingla in Solukhumbu.

Since the project is being financed through Line of Credit from India, the bidder must be an Indian entity registered in India or established under any law in force in India having experience in construction and installation of high voltage transmission lines and substations.

The CIAA had said that the cost of construction of the transmission line proposed by Mohan Energy was $2.62 million higher than the cost proposed by the lowest bidder a joint venture of Jaguar Overseas and BS Ltd.

Mohan Energy had proposed $22.97 million, whereas Jaguar Overseas and BS had proposed $20.35 million for the construction of the project.

NEA’s bid evaluation committee based on the report of the project management consultant, Lahmeyer International (India) had disqualified the joint venture of Jaguar and BS citing numerous reasons like submission of the guarantee in Indian currency and low experience, among others.

The writs were issued by a joint bench of Chief Justice Kalyan Shrestha and Justice Jagadish Sharma Paudel.