Bombay HC refuses relief to L&T in tender process for tunnel, elevated road projects connecting Thane with Mira-Bhayandar

A vacation bench of Justices Kamal R Khata and Arif S Doctor dismissed two pleas by L&T, which claimed that it had not received any intimation about the status of its bids, while the other bidders had received the same.

In the case of a plea against the opening of financial bids for an elevated road, the HC refused to continue the stay on the opening of bids and said it was rejecting L&T’s request for further stay. In the case of the tunnel project, the HC dismissed L&T’s plea stating that it had approached the court with ‘suppression of material facts.”

The HC, however, said the price bids submitted electronically by L&T for both the projects should be preserved in a sealed cover for two weeks to enable it to approach the Supreme Court. Accepting the L & T’s request, the bench directed that the MMRDA shall preserve the price bids for two weeks from the date of communication of the tender award as per the Instructions to Bidders (ITB).

The Court held that it “should be mindful that the said project is a mega-infrastructure project of significant public importance,” therefore, “any delay of the same would adversely impact the execution of the project which is admittedly of public importance.”

“Conversely, no prejudice whatsoever would be caused to the Petitioner if all rights and contentions of the Petitioner are kept open to challenge the rejection of the Petitioner technical bid as well as the award of the contract,” it added.

MMRDA invited tenders for the projects in July 2024, and on October 8, responding to a separate plea by L&T, the Authority had said that it would extend by 60 days the last date of submission of bids for the project.

Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Janak Dwarkadas, representing L&T, informed the HC that the technical and financial bids were submitted on December 30, 2024, and MMRDA opened the technical bids on January 1 and were being evaluated, however, the petitioner firm had not received any communication related to the same.

The firm said that without such information about the evaluation result, MMRDA had scheduled the opening of financial bids for the project on May 13. However, it said some other bidders had received an intimation about the opening of financial bids. Therefore, it approached the HC seeking an urgent stay on the same. The firm argued that if the financial bids were opened by excluding the firm, the same would be contrary to a fair and transparent tender process and against well-established legal norms or principles of natural justice.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi for MMRDA, however, argued that it was not required to intimate L&T that the firm’s bid was found to be unresponsive before opening the financial bids.

Earlier, on May 13, the court directed MMRDA not to open financial bids till it hears the plea and the same was continued till May 20.