The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will hear the Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (SEZ) appeal in July against the disqualification of its bid for maintenance and upgradation of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) container terminal in Navi Mumbai.
Senior counsel A M Singhvi, appearing for Adani Ports, told a Bench comprising justices A S Oka and M M Sundresh that the matter may be heard after the vacation as there was no urgency as of now. He said that the issue has “kind of slipped away” between Tuesday and Wednesday as the bids submitted by others have been opened.
He told the judges that it looked like the Adani Group will not be able to match those higher bids. “Between yesterday and today, they have opened the bid and the commercials are such that in any case, I don’t think for the actual figures, I can match the person whose bid has been opened. So, your lordships need not be troubled now,” Singhi argued.
However, the apex court should settle the question of law to avoid any future disqualification, he said, adding that “because of this approach, I am being disqualified in multiple tenders and bids and it is the completely wrong interpretation of the relevant clause.”