The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has informed the Supreme Court that it has scrapped the two tenders issued for the Thane-Ghodbunder to Bhayandar tunnel and elevated road projects worth over Rs 14,000 crore in “public interest”. The authority said it will issue fresh tenders in due course.
“We have decided to scrap the two tenders. The government will decide what they want to do,” Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for MMRDA, told a bench of Chief Justice of India B R Gavai and Justices A G Masih and A S Chandurkar.
Taking MMRDA’s statement on record, the Supreme Court bench disposed of as “infructuous” the pleas by Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Limited that challenged the Bombay High Court order of May 20. The high court’s vacation bench had refused relief to L&T in its pleas challenging the opening of financial bids for the two projects.
“Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi appearing for MMRDA fairly state that the state (MMRDA) has decided to scrap the entire tender process in the larger public interest and take such steps as are advised. In that view of the matter, the petition is rendered infructuous and disposed of as infructuous,” the bench said in its order.
L&T had claimed that it had not received any intimation about the status of the bids, while other bidders had received the same. It had argued that MMRDA had initiated the opening of the financial bids by excluding L&T from the process.
Senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Singhvi, Ranjit Kumar, Neeraj Kishan Kaul, and advocates Raunak Dhillon, Madhavi Khanna, and Nihaad Dewan appeared for L&T.
The two projects are proposed to link Thane and Mira-Bhayandar. One of the projects consists of a 5-km twin tunnel of 14.6-metre diameter from Gaimukh to Fountain Hotel Junction at Shilphata, worth Rs 8,000 crore.
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The other project, an elevated creek road bridge of 9.8 km, estimated to cost nearly Rs 6,000 crore, will connect Bhayandar with Ghodbunder Road in Thane. The two projects are part of an extension of the Mumbai Coastal Road project and the elevated bridge is likely to be the second largest after the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) bridge, also called Atal Setu.
MMRDA’s decision to scrap the present tender process came after the apex court on May 26 and 29 asked the authority whether it was willing to carry out re-tendering process for the two major projects and had warned that failure to do so may lead to the court staying the present tenders.
The Supreme Court had said that it was difficult to comprehend that the technical bids of L&T, the company which was selected to execute the Central Vista Project in Delhi, had been rejected for the projects linking Thane and Bhayandar.
L&T had told the top court that MMRDA had arbitrarily declared Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd (MEIL) as L1 (lowest) bidder for both the projects, despite its bid being at a substantially higher cost compared to that of L&T. The firm had argued that its price bid was nearly Rs 2,521 crore less than that of MEIL in the tunnel project, and Rs 609 crore less for the elevated road project.
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However, MMRDA, argued that there were “substantial reasons” for rejecting the bid and that it was not on “flimsy” or “fanciful” grounds.
On Friday, as Rohatgi informed the apex court that MMRDA was scrapping the present tenders, CJI Gavai said, “Otherwise, if we go into the merits, we will have to consider the validity of that clause and everything.”
Rohatgi said, “I conveyed to the government. I had a discussion with the government.” The CJI said, “We are basically concerned with the larger public interest. The difference is Rs 3,200 crore… We live in an era of transparency.”
Though the petitioners also urged the bench to set aside the high court judgment, the CJI said it is not necessary. CJI Gavai told the petitioner’s counsel, “You should appreciate the fairness of Rohatgi and the Solicitor. At least at times.”
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The MMRDA, in its press statement on Friday, said “both the tenders will be scrapped and a fresh tender process would be initiated only to safeguard larger public interest.”
“The authority is also actively considering a downward revision of the base cost by approximately Rs 3,000 crore — based on price quotations disclosed during the proceedings — to ensure optimal use of public funds,” it added.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, while speaking at Express Adda in Mumbai on Wednesday, had said that the state government will follow the court order. “Actually, the tender took place before the Assembly elections (during the Eknath Shinde-led government) and two companies were competing for it. One of them was L&T. It is a good company. But there was an objection against L&T that there were some cracks in its Telangana project. So, as per rules and regulations of MMRDA, their bid could not have been opened and they (L&T) got disqualified and went to court. And the Supreme Court said the price difference is too much. We will abide by what the court says. It is an administrative matter and I don’t think there will be much of a problem,” Fadnavis said.
