Mumbai’s Dharavi redevelopment project will continue to go on after the Supreme Court refused to stay it on Friday. A bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar sought responses from the Maharashtra government and Adani Properties Pvt Ltd, which was awarded the tender for the project, on a petition challenging a December 20, 2024 verdict of the Bombay High Court.
The High Court had cleared the decks for redevelopment of the slums in Dharavi and upheld the tender awarded to the Adani Group for the project, ruling there was no “arbitrariness, unreasonableness or perversity” in the decision. The High Court in the process dismissed the plea of UAE-based Seclink Technologies Corporation challenging the state government’s decision to award the mega redevelopment project to Adani Properties Pvt Ltd, which had made an `5,069 Crore offer.
Seclink Technologies Corporation emerged as the highest bidder for the project first in 2018 with its `7,200 Crore offer, but the tender was later scrapped by the Government. The Adani Group had emerged as the highest bidder for the 259-hectare Dharavi redevelopment project in the heart of Mumbai and bagged it with its `5,069 Crore offer in the 2022 tender process. Seclink Technologies Corporation has moved the top court against the High Court decision.
While issuing notice in its plea, the top court directed Adani Properties Pvt Ltd to make payments for the project through a single bank account. After the Bench issued notice on the plea, senior advocate C Aryama Sundaram appearing for Seclink Technologies Corporation urged the court to order a status quo. The CJI, however, said, “No.” Sundaram informed the Bench that the petitioner company offered `7,200 Crore in the first tender. “I will increase my offer of `7,200 crore by 20 per cent,” he told the bench, adding that the figure comes to `8,640 Crore.
“What about additional obligations?” asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the state.
When the Bench asked Sundaram if the petitioner was willing to comply “with the same obligations as put on the highest bidder”, the senior counsel said “yes”. The bench noted Sundaram’s submission on the proposed commitment and said, “The petitioner will file an affidavit to the said effect before this court.” The matter would come in the week of May 25.
The Bench, however, clarified no special equities would be claimed by either sides. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Adani Properties Pvt Ltd, said the project work had already commenced. “I have carried out constructions. I have deposited funds. About 2,000 people are employed,” he said.
