Dubai consortium moves SC over rule changes in Dharavi redevelopment project

A Dubai-based consortium that had earlier emerged as the top bidder for the redevelopment of Mumbai’s Dharavi, one of the world’s largest slum clusters, has taken its case to the Supreme Court of India, challenging the dismissal its previous plea in the Bombay High Court.

SecLink Technologies Corporation has claimed that tender rules were altered after it was declared the highest bidder, Khaleej Times reported.

Spread across about 2.4 square kilometres in the heart of Mumbai, Dharavi is home to more than one million residents and is among the most densely populated urban settlements in the world.

The redevelopment project, estimated to unlock over Dh125 billion (around Rs 2.8 lakh crore) in long-term commercial value, has drawn global attention as one of Asia’s most ambitious urban renewal initiatives.

According to the newspaper report, the dispute centres around SecLink Technologies Corporation, the Dubai-registered consortium that participated in an international tender floated by the Maharashtra government in 2018. SecLink was declared the top bidder the following year but claims the process was later cancelled and reissued with revised criteria that excluded it from reapplying.

In an interview with Khaleej Times, SecLink’s chairman and managing director Nilang Shah said the consortium had arranged substantial financial backing before the tender was annulled.

“We had secured $4 billion (Dh13.5 billion) as a bank guarantee for the project, and expenses have already crossed Dh3.82 billion,” Shah was quoted as saying, adding that maintaining the financing structure has continued to incur significant costs as the legal battle drags on.

Shah further told the publication that UAE-based investors who had committed funds to the project are now facing exposure due to the cancellation of the initial tender.

Citing court documents, Khaleej Times reported that Maharashtra had invited global bids in late 2018 for Dharavi’s redevelopment. SecLink, which competed with several Indian developers, had made an offer of around Dh3 billion and was selected as the preferred bidder. However, before the final award could be issued, the state government cancelled the process.

Two years later, a new tender was floated with revised participation norms, which SecLink claims were structured to its disadvantage. The consortium’s petition before the Supreme Court argues that these changes compromised fair competition, especially after the results of the first bidding round were already public.

The Maharashtra government has defended its decision to cancel the earlier tender, citing the need to include adjoining railway land in the project. However, SecLink’s rejoinder before the court maintains that the 2018 tender had already accounted for the railway land and that the cited reason did not constitute a real expansion in scope.

Despite its willingness to meet or surpass the new terms introduced in the 2022 tender, including payments to Indian Railways, SecLink says it was disqualified. The project was subsequently awarded to a special purpose vehicle led by the Adani Group.

In 2024, the Bombay High Court dismissed SecLink’s petition challenging the award to Adani, ruling that “the grounds urged in support of the petition lack force”, as reported by Reuters. Both the Maharashtra government and Adani Group denied the allegations, stating that due process had been followed and the project was proceeding in the public interest.

A request for comment sent to the Adani Group by Khaleej Times reportedly went unanswered at the time of publication.

During a hearing in March 2025, the Supreme Court noted that SecLink had submitted a revised bid exceeding Dh3.6 billion and expressed willingness to comply with all conditions of the 2022 tender.

The bench also observed that the revised eligibility criteria “may have been tweaked so as to disable or oust” the consortium, while clarifying that no “special equities” would accrue to any party during the pendency of the case.

The court further directed the production of all “original files”, including internal notings, approvals, and correspondence from 2018 onwards, for judicial scrutiny. It also ordered that all project-related payments be routed through a single monitored bank account, effectively placing the project’s financial operations under court oversight while allowing construction to proceed.

The matter is scheduled to come up for its next hearing on 13 November, when the Maharashtra government is expected to produce the complete record and SecLink will continue its submissions.