The municipal commissioner of Ahmedabad has issued a standard operating procedure (SOP) regarding blacklisting of contractors in tenders and contracts issued by the AMC.

The SOP will be implemented after approval from the legal committee.

In many cases where the delay in action according to the rules and regulations of different departments leads to arbitrations, AMC bears the losses if the judgements are against the department.

Tenders and contracts are carried out for various projects in AMC. However, in cases where the AMC wants to blacklist a contractor over non-performance or other reasons, the contractors go to arbitration against the corporation. This sometimes leads to arbitrators' adverse judgments against the AMC.

Cases also take a long time to reach a verdict, holding the projects in their timelines. The costs of the system also increase on the system due to these reasons.

To avoid such situations, the municipal commissioner prepared an elaborate SOP on September 24, pending approval from the corporation's legal committee.

How does arbitration work?

According to the standard provisions of the Central Vigilance Commission, if there is a dispute in any tender or contract, one arbitrator is appointed by the contractor and one arbitrator by the government. These two arbitrators appoint another arbitrator to ensure that all decisions do not go in favour of the government according to the principle of natural justice. 

In disputed cases, the award or decision given by the arbitrator has to be accepted by the contractor and the government.

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