The petition, filed by three consumers including Congress MLA Digvijay Khanvilkar, alleged that MSEB awarded the contract for retrofitting of 15 turbines and other machinery to Power Plant Performance Improvement Ltd. (PPIL) without considering other biddings of lower cost. The petition further said former MSEB chairman P L Gajralwar and three other board members were also involved in the fraud.

However, the division bench of Chief Justice M B Shah and Justice Y S Jahagirdar refused to grant stay on the contract awarded to PPIL who have been allowed to proceed with the retrofitting of turbines in seven units as work on them are scheduled to commence in the next two years.

As regards other units the court directed MSEB to advertise for fresh bids and consider tenders quoting lesser price withoutcompromising the condition of increasing power generation. The board has been directed to place the tenders before the court on November 10, 1998.

The petition alleged that at a meeting of the directors of the board on January 28, 1998, Gajralwar along with board members Sudam Mandlik, Ashok Sampat and Anil Rathod hurriedly decided to grant the contract to PPIL. ``The chairman pressurised other directors to award the contract to PPIL,'' the petition said adding that the technical and accounts members of the board were not in favour of awarding the contract to PPIL while another company LMZ had quoted lower rates.

The petition stated that the board meeting was held to decide on the work on one unit. However, the chairman and the three members decided to award PPIL with contracts for other units as well. ``This is illegal, arbitrary and against the interests of consumers because it would affect the performance of the MSEB,'' the petition said.