Five days after the Maharashtra government issued a government resolution (GR) awarding Dharavi slum redevelopment project to the Adani Group, the Bombay High Court has allowed Dubai-based Seclink Technology Corporation (STC) to amend its earlier plea and challenge the July 13 GR.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justices Nitin Jamdar and Arif S Doctor on Tuesday asked STC to carry out the amendment in a week and kept the plea for hearing August 7.
STC’s advocate informed the bench that the GR has been issued and they wanted to challenge the same.
Dharavi slum redevelopment project rests on Adani's shoulders
The Gautam Adani group had made an investment offer of ₹5,069 crore to redevelop the nearly 259-hectare slum. Adani Properties had won the bid last November to redevelop the slum. The state government on July 13 appointed Adani Properties Pvt Ltd as the lead partner in the project. The government issued a formal notification thereby enabling the Adani group to begin work on the project.
STC had approached the HC claiming that it was a successful bidder in January 2019 against the Adani group. However, the tender was not awarded after it was decided to include the railways land in the redevelopment project. Later in October 2020, then Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government cancelled the tender.
Despite this, an affidavit was filed by the Maharashtra Housing Department stating that the 2018 tender was cancelled and a fresh tender was issued last year due to several factors including the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia war that affected financial and economic affairs. It further claimed that the tendering process for the Dharavi redevelopment project was “fair, transparent and in public interest”.
Shinde government issued new tender in 2022
Further, the SRA said the current Eknath Shinde-led government issued a new tender in 2022 as a fresh 45-acre plot of land was found in place of the railways plot and Adani qualified for the bid.
During the hearing on April 27, the SRA had informed the HC that a work order, pursuant to the new tender process, has not been issued and the issue is still pending with the Cabinet. The HC had then adjourned the hearing in STC’s plea. However, the court had granted liberty to STC to approach the court “In case the respondents (government) take further steps pursuant to the new tender process, liberty is granted to the petitioner to move”.
Since the GR was issued, STC approached the HC seeking amendment.
