Thane tunnel-elevated road: HC junks L&T pleas, OKs bid opening
Mumbai: Declining relief to construction giant
Larsen & Toubro
,
Bombay high court
vacation bench on Tuesday dismissed its petitions against the opening of financial bids for the Rs 14,000 crore Thane-Ghodbunder to Bhayandar tunnel and
elevated road project
, and gave the go-ahead to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (
MMRDA
) to open the bids.
A division bench of Justices Kamal Khata and Arif Doctor discontinued the interim stay it had granted last week on opening of the financial bids on May 13, but on a request made by L&T counsel in both matters, directed MMRDA to preserve the price bids for two weeks from the date they are opened and the decision is communicated.
L&T will now appeal to Supreme Court.
The 5km tunnel and 9.8km elevated road together is touted to be the second longest road project in the country after the 22km Atal Setu, also executed by MMRDA.
The elevated road, to be built along Vasai Creek, is proposed to be an extension to the Mumbai Coastal Road.
What weighed with the HC was that L&T, as a bidder, accepted certain tender terms and participated in the bids. Also, it was a mega infrastructure project, and any delay would adversely impact its execution. However, no prejudice would be caused to L&T if its rights are kept open to challenge the final award and its rejection later.
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The HC did find much merit in Singhvi's submission that the tender terms were contrary to the PWD and CVC guidelines.
The HC observed the tender conditions to be prima facie "opaque and such that could give rise to the tendering authority acting in an arbitrary and non-transparent manner." But it noted that L&T accepted the terms and participated without challenging them as they should have.
The company filed two petitions challenging the opening of financial bids without MMRDA first intimating the decision on the technical bids. The HC said the petitioner suppressed certain material facts, a part of the tender condition, as argued by MMRDA's senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. It was incumbent on the company to set out the clause and explain why it was not applicable, the HC said in its order, adding, "It is well settled that the party who invokes the extraordinary jurisdiction of this court is supposed to be truthful, frank, and open and must necessarily disclose all the material facts without any reservation, even if they are against such a party.
It is not open to a party who seeks equity to play 'hide and seek' or to 'pick and choose' certain facts and to suppress and/or conceal other facts."
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