Apex court delivered important ruling Mumbai - Ahmedabad Bullet train rail project

The Apex Court said no company and even the Republic of India can be permitted to deviate from any terms and conditions of the agreements including the loan deed about the Mumbai-Ahmedabad rail project.

The Top Court kept out the Delhi High Court’s verdict in favour of a firm called Montecarlo Limited whose technical bid was rejected by an expert committee appointed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for several works about the Bullet train project.

A bench comprising Justices M R Shah and A S Bopanna was dealing with the question whether in the facts and circumstances of the case and concerning such a foreign-funded project, the High Court was justified in "interfering with the tender process in absence of any specific allegations of mala fides and/or favouritism".

Bench emphasised that in a mega project funded by a foreign country, there shall not be any interference in the tender process midway till the final decision is taken to award the contract. 

“The reason behind this is that any delay in such a project may increase the ultimate project cost and it may affect the future investment by the foreign country, which would never be in the larger interest of the nation,” said the bench.

Justice Shah, writing the judgement for the bench, allowed the appeal of National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), set for the Bullet train project, and said that the 2021 high court verdict was “clearly unsustainable and the same deserves to be quashed."

“It cannot be disputed that the Bullet Train Project is a very important National project. The Bullet Train Project is a fully foreign-funded project, which was envisaged when the Japanese and Indian governments entered into a Memorandum of Understanding, pursuant to which it was agreed that the said project would be fully funded by a Concessional Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan of Rs.1 lakh crores by the Japan International Cooperation Agency," it said.

The high court had quashed the communications of April 27 and 28, 2021 by which the private firm was informed that its technical Bid has been rejected on the ground that the same is non-responsive.

NHSRCL is a government Company incorporated under the Companies Act, 2013 with equity participation of the Government of India, Government of Gujarat, and Government of Maharashtra, incorporated to finance, construct, maintain and manage the upcoming Bullet train project.

The NHSRCL had issued a tender notice on October 22, 2020, calling for bids concerning various work including, Construction of Civil and Building Works for the Depot on Design-Build Lump Sum Price Basis for Double Line High-Speed Railway involving works for Site Formation, Abutment, Retaining Walls, Roadbed for the track, Box Culvert, Roads, Cable Duct, Foundations of OHE Masts, Piping, Drainage, Water Supply, Water Harvesting, Fire Fighting, Land-scraping, Boundary Wall, General Inspection Train Shed, Maintenance Depot and other Associated Works at Sabarmati.

Finally, today the bench said no company and even the Republic of India can be permitted to deviate from any terms and conditions of the agreements including the loan deed about the Mumbai-Ahmedabad rail project.