Cuttack, July 19: The civic body's bid to reorganise sanitation work in the city has suffered a setback with Orissa High Court directing it to call fresh tenders to execute its Solid Waste Management Project - 2016.

The Cuttack Municipal Corporation had planned to reorganise the sanitation job by outsourcing it for five years. Accordingly, the civic body started its tender process on August 27 last year.

While inviting tenders, the corporation had included a financial eligibility clause for the bidders specifying: "The average annual turnover should be more than Rs 30 crore for the past three years and net worth should be positive."

"As the high court has endorsed all the conditions except for a financial eligibility criterion for bidders, inviting fresh tender and completing the selection process would take three months time," municipal commissioner Bikash Mohapatra said.

However, the civic body is hopeful that it would be able to put the appalling sanitation scenario in various parts of the city back on the track "as soon as possible".

"We will abide by the court direction on fixation of annual turnover clause and invite fresh tenders shortly," Mohapatra said.