In a big win for the Adani Group, the Supreme Court on Friday refused to order status quo on the Dharavi Redevelopment Project in Mumbai. 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 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 Bombay HC 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 a Rs 5,069-crore offer.
Adani Group directed to make payments for the project through a single bank account
While issuing notice on its plea, the bench 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 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 Rs 5,069-crore offer in the 2022.
The corporation first challenged the cancellation of the 2018 tender and subsequently the 2022 award of tender to the Adani Group. The state government had claimed in the high court that the tender was awarded in a transparent manner without any undue favour to the highest bidder.
The government said the 2018 tender was cancelled and a fresh one was issued four years later owing to several factors like the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war which affected the financial and economic state of affairs.
The first tender for the mega redevelopment project was issued in November 2018. In March 2019, the bids were opened and it was found that Seclink Technologies Corporation was the highest bidder.
Dharavi, one of the world's densest urban sprawls, is a slum colony having a mix of residential and small industrial units.