Hold meeting under chief secy toamicably settle L&T dispute: HC

Nagpur: Warning respondents that their monetary dispute wouldn’t be allowed to adversely affect public interest, the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Friday directed Larsen and Toubro and others to convene a meeting in Mumbai to resolve issues amicably.
“We direct Nagpur Smart and Sustainable City Development Corporation Limited (NSSCDCL) chairman, L&T chief executive officer and city-based officers and Maharashtra IT Corporation to hold a meeting at Mantralaya for discussing issues arising out of mutual and reciprocal contractual obligations. It would be presided over by the chief secretary or additional chief secretary (home), so that proper coordination amongst all the concerned government departments is ensured,” a division bench comprising justices Sunil Shukre and Anil Kilor said.
While hearing two suo motu PILs (No. 5/2016 and No. 7/2019) where amicus curiae Shreerang Bhandarkar quoted media reports that all CCTV cameras stopped functioning after L&T stopped its servers for recovery of Rs 135 crore dues, the bench directed the respondents to convene a meeting between July 26 and 30.
“If the meeting doesn’t result in resolution of issues, the parties would be at liberty to take recourse to such remedy for resolution of the same, as may be available in terms of contract and law. We must put it down in writing that HC will not permit the respondents to spill over their inter se dispute on account of payment/non-payment of the sums arising out of contractual obligations into the public arena to adversely affect the public interest,” the judges said, before adjourning the hearing by four weeks.