LexSTATE OF KERALA & ANR. ETC. ETC. versus M/S RDS PROJECT LIMITED & ORS. ETC. ETC.
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A B C D E F G H 837 STATE OF KERALA & ANR. ETC. ETC. v. M/S RDS PROJECT LIMITED & ORS. ETC. ETC. (Civil Appeal Nos. 3239-3246 of 2020) SEPTEMBER 22, 2020 [R. F. NARIMAN, NAVIN SINHA AND INDIRA BANERJEE, JJ.] Administrative Law: Judicial review – Project of flyover on National Highway constructed by respondent no.1 – After a year of its use, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways found it to be in a distressed condition with several cracks requiring rehabilitation measures – The IIT was thereafter appointed as an expert agency which opined that the bridge could follow a carbon fibre composite treatment and be repaired instead of being demolished – Meanwhile Dr. E. Sreedharan recommended the strengthening and replacement of RCC girders with PSC girders to ensure durability which would necessitate demolition and reconstruction and further stated that his plan ensured a 100 year guarantee for the newly constructed flyover – In view of divergent opinion, the State government set up a High Level Committee – This Committee accepted the proposal by Dr. Sreedharan in view of the service life assured by him for 100 years – State Government accepted the report of High Level Committee – Writ petition by respondent no.1 against the order of State Government – High Court directed Government to conduct load test of the flyover – Hence the instant appeal – Held: High Court instead of applying well established parameters of judicial review and ascertaining whether the decision of the State Government would vitiate Art.14 went into the matter itself and held that was better to have a load test conducted to avoid any further controversy in the matter – State Government in accepting the Expert Committee report cannot be said to have behaved arbitrarily – Order of High Court set aside. CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal Nos. 3239- 3246 of 2020. From the Judgment and Order dated 20.12.2019 of the High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam in R.P. No. 1253/2019 in W.P.(C) 26030/2019, [2020] 6 S.C.R. 837 837 A B C D E F G H 838 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2020] 6 S.C.R. R.P. No. 1251/2019 in W.P.(C) 26405/2019, R.P. No. 1249/2019 in W.P.(C) 25362/2019, R.P. No. 1243/2019 in W.P.(C) 25343/2019 and common order dated 21.11.2019 in W.P.(C) No. 26030/2019, W.P.(C) No. 26405/2019, W.P.(C) No. 25362/2019 & W.P.(C) No. 25343/2019. K.K. Venugopal, Attorney General for India, Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Jaideep Gupta, Gopal Sankaranarayanan, V.Giri, Rana Mukharjee Sr. Advs., Jishnu M.L., Ms. Priyanka Prakash, Ms. Beena Prakash, G. Prakash, Pragyan Pradip Sharma, Ms. Amita Singh Kalkal, Eeshan Pandey, Deepu Thankan, Ms. Madhavi Khanna, Karan Valecha, Ms. Lakshmi, Ms. Gurnoor Kaur, Prakash Ranjan Nayak, K.V. Manoj Kumar, Kumar Shashank, Surjendu Sankar Das, Nithin George, Ms. Annie Mittal, Krishna Dev Jagarlamudi, Zulfiker Ali P. S, Rafeek V.K., Advs. for the appearing parties. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by R.F. NARIMAN, J. 1. Leave granted. 2. Heard Mr. K.K. Venugopal, learned Attorney General for India appearing on behalf of the State of Kerala, Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, learned Senior Counsel for the Respondent No.1, Mr. Gopal Sankaranarayanan, learned Senior Counsel for the Respondent No.3, Mr. Jaideep Gupta, learned Senior Counsel for the Respondent No.2, Mr. Rana Mukherjee, learned Senior Counsel for the Respondent No. 9 and Mr. V. Giri, learned Senior Counsel for the Respondent Nos. 4 & 5. The impugned High Court judgment dealt with a project called the Palarivattom Flyover on the National Highway, Cochin City, State of Kerala. This was constructed by Respondent No.1 and inaugurated on 12.10.2016. However, after one year of this Flyover being used, the Consultancy Agency for the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India, on regular inspection of the bridge, reported on 16.03.2018 that the bridge was in a distressed condition with several cracks as a result of which measures should be taken to rehabilitate the flyover. The IIT, Madras, was thereafter appointed as an expert agency which delivered several reports in which, according to it, the bridge could follow a carbon fibre fabric composite treatment and be repaired instead of being demolished. Meanwhile, Dr. E. Sreedharan submitted a report to the Chief Minister of Kerala on 03.07.2019 in which he recommended the strengthening and replacement of RCC girders with PSC girders to A B C D E F G H 839 ensure durability which would necessitate a demolition and re-co
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