Bombay HC dismisses Seclink's plea challenging Dharavi revamp project award

The petitioner, SecLink Technologies Corporation, was the 'preferred bidder' in the first round of bidding, which was later scrapped

The Bombay High Court on Friday dismissed a writ petition filed by a UAE-based firm, which was the “preferred bidder” in initial tender of Dharavi redevelopment project and had challenged its subsequent award to an Adani group firm.

 

A division bench of the high court, comprising chief justice DK Upadhyay and Justice Amit Borkar, rejected the plea filed by SecLink Technologies Corporation (STC) saying that it “lacked force”.

 

STC is a UAE-based real estate and construction company.

 

“The grounds urged in support of the petition lack force, and accordingly, the challenge to the impugned action on the part of the respondents, authorities, whereby the earlier tender process was cancelled and fresh tender process has been resorted to, fails,” the bench said.

 

In November 2018, the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP) tender was issued by the Maharashtra government, then headed by Devendra Fadnavis. A year later, the state government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Railways for the inclusion of 45 acres of Mahim-Matunga railway land.

 

In March 2019, the chief executive officer (CEO) of DRP under the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (DRP/SRA) wrote a letter to the Seclink consortium stating that they are the preferred bidder in the case.

 

In June 2019, the state sought the Advocate General’s (AG) opinion on whether the inclusion of railway land constitutes a material change to the tender conditions or not.

 

Responding to the query, AG Ashutosh Kumbhkoni said that the inclusion of railway land constitutes a material change in tender conditions, so there was a need to go for fresh bids.

 

Between August and October 2020, the state's Committee of Secretaries (CoS) accepted the AG’s recommendations and advised the cabinet to cancel the 2018 tender.

 

The cabinet headed by the then chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray cancelled the tender, and in November 2020, the state government announced it would go for fresh bids for the project.

 

Challenging the decision, Seclink filed a writ petition before the Bombay HC.

 

In October 2022, the state government headed by Eknath Shinde issued a fresh tender for the DRP. Bids were opened, and Adani Properties Private Limited (APPL) was declared as the preferred bidder. In July 2023, the Maharashtra government issued APPL a Letter of Award (LoA).

 

In the same month, the high court accepted Seclink’s plea for making APPL a party to its petition.