Bhubaneswar, May 14 (IANS): The Odisha High Court Monday refused to vacate its stay on the state government entering into deals with private parties for developing ports in the state.

The court in May last year had restrained the government from signing any agreement in this regard after a public suit was filed by environmentalist Biswajit Mohanty, board member of Transparency International India.

Mohanty had alleged that the government signed agreements with several companies without following an open bidding process.

A division bench of Chief Justice V. Gopala Gowda and Justice B.N. Mohapatra said the stay imposed by them would continue, Aditya Das, the petitioner lawyer told IANS.

The stay will continue till the disposal of the suit, he said.

The state government in September last year had filed an appeal before the court seeking permission to sign concessionaire agreement with Essel Mining and Industries Ltd. of Aditya Birla group for Chudamani port in Bhadrak district as the pact with the company was due to expire on October 30 last year.

The company had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in 2009 to develop the port on the build, own and operate (BOO) basis. According to the pact, the port was to be developed in a phased manner.