The Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNUHDB) has urged the Madras High Court to vacate an interim injunction granted by it on December 2 against the blacklisting of P.S.T. Engineering Construction, a contractor accused of poor quality construction of tenements at Kesava Pillai Park at Pulianthope, Chennai.
In a counter-affidavit filed before Justice N. Anand Venkatesh in response to the contractor’s civil suit, TNUHDB said the contract was signed in December 2017 for 864 tenements in a stilt-plus-nine floor design, consisting of various blocks, under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (housing for all scheme).
However, after allotment of the tenements to the beneficiaries, it was noticed that the cement plastering on the walls was peeling, and the construction was not up to the mark. Immediately, TNUHDB suspended from service an assistant engineer and an assistant executive engineer who were supposed to ensure quality.
In the counter-affidavit filed through Special Government Pleader Edwin Prabakaran, TNUHDB said it had also requested the Centre for Urbanisation, Buildings and Environment (CUBE) of Indian Institute of Technology-Madras to conduct a study.
After a scientific examination through spot studies and collection of materials, CUBE filed a report confirming the poor quality of construction and unacceptable workmanship in plastering. Therefore, TNUHDB issued a show-cause notice to the contractor on October 8, 2021, seeking an explanation as to why the company should not be blacklisted. The contract provides for arbitration, yet the contractor had chosen not to invoke that clause and instead approached the High Court under its commercial division.
Though the contractor had claimed to have been awarded a bonus of ₹90.19 lakh in August 2019 for having completed the project in advance, that could not be taken as a credit in view of the fact that the buildings were subsequently found to have defects, TNUHDB said.
It also denied the contractor’s allegation that the Greater Chennai Corporation had utilised the tenements as a “hospital” before allotting them to the beneficiaries and that Corporation employees had caused a great damage to the buildings by installing iron grills on the parapet walls and then removing them.
TNUHDB contended that the buildings, after construction, were taken over by the Corporation under the Disaster Management Act and were used as a COVID-19 care centre, and not as a hospital as claimed by the contractor, and that only minor modifications were made which could not have had any effect on the structure.
After taking the counter-affidavit on file, the judge adjourned the case to January 11 for receiving the contractor’s rejoinder and extended the interim injunction till then.
