The Andhra Pradesh High Court has directed the state's government to maintain status quo on the termination of the Hyderabad metro contract awarded to Maytas Infra, in response to Maytas Infrastructure's petition challenging the government's move to re-tender the metro rail project.

The Maytas Infra-led consortium had earlier won the bid for prestigious Metro Rail project, but its failure in making a financial disclosure led to the scrapping of the project by the AP government.

It should be recalled that Maytas Infrastructure, promoted by disgraced Satyam founder chief B RamaLinga Raju, had signed a deal with a Singapore-based firm - Concept 2 Commissioning Consultants - just a day before the government's move to terminate the project.

The cash-strapped Maytas Infrastructure said that Concept 2 Commissioning Consultants firm is ready to retain the metro rail project by providing Rs 240 crore, which can be used as performance guarantee, a key requirement for keeping the Metro Rail project.

In the meantime, the court also gave its nod to the AP government for calling fresh bids for the Rs 12,000-crore rail project. However, the government may wait for the final decision of the court, likely on August 11, instead of inviting pre-qualification bids.