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Informist, Tuesday, May 20, 2025

 

NEW DELHI – The Bombay High Court Tuesday rejected engineering company Larsen & Toubro Ltd.'s plea seeking a stay on the opening of financial bids for an INR-80-billion project to design and construct an underground road tunnel from Gaimukh to Fountain Hotel Junction on the Thane-Ghodbunder road in Maharashtra. The court asked the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority to preserve the price bids that were submitted electronically in the tender for two weeks, to allow the petitioner to approach the Supreme Court against its order. 

 

The project is a "mega infrastructure project" of significant public importance, the court said, and any delay would adversely affect its execution. "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's technical bid as well as the award of the contract," the court added.

 

L&T was one of the bidders for the project. In December, it submitted its technical bid. Since then, it has been waiting for the outcome of the evaluation of the technical bids. Recently, it learnt that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority had sent letters to some bidders to remain present for opening of the financial bids on May 13. However, L&T did not receive any such intimation, it said. 

 

The Mumbai authority, being a public authority, is bound to act in a non-discriminatory, fair, and transparent manner, the company told the court, and intimate the petitioner about the outcome of the evaluation of its technical bid before opening the financial bids. "The decision to open financial bids in the absence of the petitioner without intimating them of the outcome of the evaluation of its technical bid is discriminatory and arbitrary and in violation of the principles of natural justice," Larsen & Toubro said.

 

Earlier, on May 13, the court, in an interim order, had asked the authority not to open the financial bids for the project till it had heard the company's plea. On Tuesday, the court rescinded its interim order.

 

Tuesday, shares of Larsen & Toubro ended 0.9% lower at INR 3,567.80 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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