Petition alleging ‘favouritism’ in chopper flying contract in HC

NAINITAL: The Uttarakhand high court (HC) on Monday sought the response of an aviation company on a petition, filed by seven other aviation companies, alleging that rules were being “bent” in favour of the firm to award it a three-year contract to fly choppers in Kedarnath valley.
The court issued the notice to the firm and asked it to respond by December 19, the next date of hearing.
“After hearing the matter, the court refused to put on hold the ongoing tender process for providing chopper services to Kedarnath.The next hearing of the case has been scheduled for December 19,” said a lawyer associated with the case.
On Friday, a consortium of seven aviation companies-- having operations in Uttarakhand -- filed a petition in the high court alleging that rules had been bent in order to “oblige a particular aviation company to fly choppers in Kedarnath for the next three years.”
The petitioners alleged that the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) has invited the tenders for chopper aviation services in Kedarnath valley to ferry tourists as well as VIPs in which certain norms were “added and subtracted” to remove them from the race.