BL reported that Kerala High Court has restrained the state government and Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited from commencing the construction works of the proposed international deepwater seaport & container transshipment terminal at Vizhinjam for 2 weeks in case it got clearance from the central government.

However, Mr Justice Thottathil B Radhakrishnan made it clear that the central government could go ahead with the consideration of the grant of clearance for the new port. He also directed the state government to place on record the report of the high level committee which considered the tenders submitted by various consortiums for the construction of the new port.

The court asked IL& FS Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited, which assisted the government to evaluate the tenders, to place on record its evaluation report regarding the tender submitted by the petitioner Zoom Developers Private Limited of Mumbai.

According to the petitioner, after an evaluation of the bid submitted by the petitioner, IL&FS had sought certain clarifications and documents. The petitioner had later complied with all these requirements. However, the petitioner came to know from the newspaper reports that Hyderabad based Infrastructure and Power Development Company, Lanco Infratech Limited had secured mandate from the Kerala government to develop the project.