Dharavi redevelopment: HC allows Seclink Technologies to challenge formal award of project to Adani group

A division bench of acting Chief Justice Nitin M Jamdar and Justice Arif S Doctor asked STC to carry out the amendment in a week and posted the hearing to August 7.

Advocate Bhushan Deshmukh, appearing for STC, informed the bench about the latest government decision and said the firm wanted to challenge the same by amending its earlier petition, which the bench allowed.

The Adani group had made an investment offer of Rs 5,069 crore to redevelop the nearly 259-hectare slum, which the state government formally accepted through its July 13 GR.

Last November, Adani Properties had won the bid to redevelop the slum.

The state government on July 13 appointed Adani Properties Pvt Ltd as the lead partner in the project.

Through the impugned GR, the government issued a formal notification to enable the Adani group to begin work on the project.

Aggrieved by the same, STC has approached the high court against the GR.

On April 27, the high court had granted liberty to STC, which had challenged the tender issued by the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) in 2022 to the Adani group as the winning bidder, to move the court in case further steps are taken by the state government.

The court was hearing a plea by STC, which had claimed that it was a successful bidder in January 2019 against the Adani group.

However, the tender was not awarded following the decision to include railways land in the redevelopment project.
In October 2020, the then Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government had cancelled the tender.

However, the Maharashtra housing department had told the court that the tendering process for the Dharavi redevelopment project was “fair, transparent and in public interest”.

The SRA had said the Eknath Shinde government issued a new tender last year as a fresh 45-acre plot of land was found in place of the railways plot and Adani qualified for the bid.

On April 27, the SRA counsel told the bench that a “work order, pursuant to the new tender process, has not been issued and the issue is still pending with the Cabinet”.

Adjourning the matter, the bench led by then acting Chief Justice Sanjay V Gangapurwala had ordered, “In case the respondents take further steps pursuant to the new tender process, liberty is granted to the petitioner to move.”

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