HC stays opening of bids for Thane road tunnel

Time of India

13-05-2025

Mumbai: The
Bombay High Court
vacation bench on Tuesday stayed the opening of financial bids for the Thane-Ghodbunder to Bhayandar tunnel and elevated road project. This project is touted to be the second longest flyover after the Atal Setu, which connects Sewri to Nhava over the creek.
The Elevated Road is proposed to be an extension to the
Mumbai Coastal Road Project
and envisages a 9.80 km bridge along the Vasai creek. The stay was granted by HC on a plea by construction giant
Larsen & Toubro
(L&T), which said it had received no intimation regarding the fate of its bids unlike other contenders. The matter has been posted for hearing first on the board on Wednesday.The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) had invited bids for the project last July.
L&T, represented by senior counsel Janak Dwarkadas, said it submitted technical and financial bids on Dec 30, 2024. The technical bids were opened by MMRDA on Jan 1, 2025 and were under evaluation since.
L&T said it has received no intimation from MMRDA so far on the outcome of the evaluation of its bids.The company argued that without informing it of the result of the evaluation, the financial bids were scheduled to be opened on May 13. Senior counsel Dwarkadas, seeking an urgent stay on the opening of the bids, said his client was "not a fly-by-night operator. It's one of the leading firms having been associated with some of Mumbai's largest public infrastructure projects." L&T said it recently learnt that some other bidders had received an intimation regarding the opening of the financial bids. Hence, L&T had approached the court to challenge MMRDA's move and seek an urgent stay. Dwarkadas said if financial bids were opened to the exclusion of L&T, it would be contrary to a fair and transparent tender process and well-established legal principles.MMRDA, through solicitor general Tushar Mehta at the hearing before a division bench of Justices Kamal Khata and Arif Doctor, said it was not required to convey to L&T that its bid was found to be unresponsive before opening the financial bids. To this, Dwarkadas said it was unfair for MMRDA to state this orally in court without supplying reasons or grounds for the rejection. Mehta argued that the very fact that L&T was not invited for the financial bid opening meant that its bid was not found responsive. MMRDA was within its rights to open the financial bids and communicate the outcome of the technical evaluation without informing L&T.The company, however, argued that it would be "discriminatory, arbitrary and in violation of the principles of natural justice…with serious consequence of depriving L&T of its valuable constitutional rights..."Mehta said the MMRDA action was justified given that the project is in public interest. The financial bids were to be opened at 11 am and 11:30 am for the Road Tunnel Project and the Elevated Road Project, respectively. The court ordered that until it hears the matter at length on May 14, "financial bids shall not be opened by the Respondent-MMRDA."