NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has reserved its order on a plea by German company Utimaco Technologies challenging the Centre’s decision to appoint state-owned Center for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) as the sole contractor for India’s mobile emergency broadcast system without public tender.
The decision is expected to determine whether the government can proceed with commercial deployment of the emergency warning system only through C-DOT, or whether it will have to open the project to competitive bidding.
“The parties are directed to submit their updated summary of motions not exceeding three pages. Let it be filed within one week,” the court said in a May 5 order that was made public on May 8.
The case, which has been pending in the high court since 2024, came up for urgent hearing after the Center on May 2 launched a nationwide trial of a multilingual mobile broadcasting system with C-DOT.
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Mobile broadcast technology is used for emergency warnings during disasters. It sends a single message with a loud buzz to all cell phones within seconds via nearby cell towers, unlike SMS which delivers messages one at a time. The project is managed by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
“(The project is) a strategic asset for the Government of India and the nation. There is nothing more important than public interest and national security. Therefore, outsourcing it to anyone else and not producing it domestically would be detrimental to the interests of the nation,” the government argued through its counsel during a hearing last week.
The government also told the court that the proposal to appoint C-DOT as the sole implementing agency for the project was approved by the Union Home Secretary.
During the hearing, Justice Sachin Datta asked the government to explain where its decision noted the justification that the project was a strategic national asset requiring allocation to a government entity and whether such justification was part of the approval process.
“Where did you say what you claimed was a strategic national asset. That’s why we can’t give it to a private party. We have to develop it through a government agency. Where’s the approval?” Justice Datta said.
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Utimaco also argued that government files do not explain why only C-DOT was selected.
“The record shows that C-DOT is seriously deficient and its nomination in respect of tender is therefore completely arbitrary, discriminatory and reflects bias and favoritism merely because it is a child of DoT (Department of Telecom),” said senior advocate Amit Sibal appearing for Utimaco Technologies.
“Nothing in this (government) decision says it has to go to C-DOT only or other factors that make it exceptional that it has to go to C-DOT only, not national security, not natural continuation or anything else,” Sibal said.
As trials for the cellular broadcast project began in 2022, telecom operators were asked by the DoT to select implementing agencies for the rollout, according to Utimaco’s petition. Reliance Jio and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) conducted tests with C-DOT, while Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea tested the Utimaco platform, according to the court petition.
In 2024, after recommending both C-DOT and Utimaco as suppliers, the DoT asked the telecom operators to integrate their systems with one agency, C-DOT.
In response to Mint’s May 5, 2026 email queries, Utimaco said the government’s national security argument “was never (raised) before the trial.
“The proof of concept for mobile broadcasting was performed by C-DOT on the Utimaco platform,” said Ronen Daniel, Head of Warning Solutions at Utimaco Technologies.
Another key area of contention is whether the government had to follow public tender rules. Utimaco argued that the government violated the 2017 General Financial Rules (GFR) on Fair and Transparent Public Procurement, which mandate that public procurement should normally be done through public tendering, except in exceptional cases.
The government, on the other hand, argued that the decision was a matter of policy, that the GFR was followed “in letter and spirit” and that the project represented a natural continuation of previous work, as Phase 1 had already been implemented by C-DOT.
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Currently, the Ministry of Home Affairs or NDMA is yet to issue a purchase order to C-DOT to introduce the technology, a government official said on condition of anonymity.
Email queries to DoT, NDMA, Ministry of Home Affairs and C-DOT last week did not elicit any response till press time.
“The problem does not seem big. The court, if it wants, can direct the government to follow the principle of natural justice and give the company (Utimaco) a fair chance,” said Satya N. Gupta, former senior counsel to Trai.
According to Gupta, the center can specify national security and other key conditions for launching the emergency warning project through an open tender process.
