Supreme Court refuses to order status quo on Adani’s Dharavi Redevelopment Project

Mumbai’s Dharavi redevelopment project being executed by Adani Properties Pvt Ltd remains on track as the Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the ongoing work on it.

Advertisement

A Bench led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna, however, asked the Maharashtra Government and Adani Properties Pvt Ltd, which was awarded the tender for the project, to respond to a petition filed by UAE-based Seclink Technologies Corporation challenging the Bombay High Court’s verdict that said there was no “arbitrariness, unreasonableness or perversity” in the decision.

One of the world’s densest urban sprawls, Dharavi is a slum colony having a mix of residential and small industrial units.

In its December 20, 2024, verdict, the high court had cleared the decks for redevelopment of the slums in Dharavi by upholding the tender awarded to the Adani Group for the project.

The high court had dismissed Seclink Technologies Corporation’s petition challenging the Maharashtra Government’s decision to award the project to Adani Properties Pvt Ltd, which had made a Rs 5,069-crore offer.

Seclink Technologies Corporation emerged as the highest bidder for the project first in 2018 with its Rs 7,200-crore offer, but the tender was later scrapped by the government. The Adani Group 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 tender process.

While issuing notice on Seclink Technologies Corporation’s plea, the Bench directed Adani Properties Pvt Ltd to make payments for the project through a single bank account and posted the matter for hearing in May.

On behalf of Seclink Technologies Corporation, senior advocate C Aryama Sundaram urged the court to order a status quo. But the Bench was not inclined.

Sundaram said the petitioner company offered Rs 7,200 crore in the first tender. “I will increase my offer of Rs 7,200 crore by 20 per cent,” he said, adding the figure would come to Rs 8,640 crore.

”What about additional obligations?” asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who represented the Maharashtra Government.

As Sundaram said the petitioner was willing to comply with the same obligations as put on the highest bidder, the Bench asked the petitioner to file an affidavit to that effect.

On behalf of Adani Properties Pvt Ltd, senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi submitted that the project work had already commenced. “I have deposited funds. About 2,000 people are employed,” he submitted.

Seclink Technologies Corporation first challenged the cancellation of the 2018 tender and subsequently the 2022 award of tender to the Adani Group. However, the state 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.