By IANS
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Tuesday allowed a consortium of Anil Ambani’s Reliance Energy Ltd (REL) and South Korean Hyundai Engineering and Constructions Company (HDEC) Limited to bid for the ambitious Rs.26 billion ($644 million) Mumbai Trans Harbour Link Project (MTHL).
A bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and S.H. Kapadia allowed the REL-HDEC consortium to participate in the second-stage bidding for the project, setting aside a Bombay High Court order, which had upheld a Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) decision to exclude the consortium from the bidding.
The apex court also extended the deadline for the consortium to submit its financial bid for the project to Dec 15.
“We set aside the Bombay High Court order and hold that REL-HDEC consortium was erroneously excluded from the second-stage of the bidding process. Accordingly, we allow this civil appeal by the consortium,” the bench ruled.
The REL-HDEC consortium was barred from the bidding on the grounds of allegedly not meeting one of the prime financial stipulations.
The MSRDC had excluded the consortium saying it was unable to show net cash profit of Rs.2 billion for three consecutive years ending on Dec 31, 2002.
The bench gave its ruling after ascertaining the consortium met the stipulation.
REL, engaged in generation, transmission and distribution of power in Delhi, Maharashtra, had formed the consortium with South Korean firm HDEC, specialising in construction of bridges, to bid for the project in response to a global tender floated by MSRDC.
The project, being offered on the build-operate-transfer basis, aims at linking Mumbai and its satellite township Navi Mumbai.