Madras High Court directs Kalvi TV tenders to be put on hold

MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the State government to put on hold the tenders issued by the government in August for procuring equipment and hiring staff for a video studio and animation lab for 'Kalvi TV'.

A Bench of justices R Mahadevan and J Sathya Narayana Prasad gave the direction on the two Public Interest Litigations (PIL) filed by K Manikanda Boopathi of Theni, whose appointment as CEO of Kalvi TV was withheld due to controversies.

Boopathi stated in his petition that the tenders were floated on August 22 under the Samagra Shiksha scheme of the Union government. But the tenders had major flaws with respect to equipment specifications and eligibility criteria among others as they were prepared by favouring a particular brand or supplier, without getting inputs from experts in the field, he alleged. Moreover, the tender value has not been mentioned in the documents, he further claimed.

He also pointed out that in light of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting's recent advisory that State governments cannot take part in broadcasting activities, the continuance of the tender process itself is questionable. He requested the court to quash the tenders and direct the appointment of an expert committee to prepare the tenders afresh.