Adani Ports knocks at Supreme Court doors in JNPCT case

Adani Ports knocks at Supreme Court doors in JNPCT case

The company maintains that its debarment is erroneous

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone have moved the Supreme Court against the disqualification of its bid to upgrade the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Container Terminal (JNPCT) in Navi Mumbai.

A bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice JB Pardiwala asked the company to approach the court's registry to get its matter listed for urgent hearing.

Appearing for Adani Ports, Senior Counsel AM Singhvi urged, "There is an extraordinary urgency. I am leading India's port manager, and I was cleared as a bidder. I was disqualified later. Kindly list the matter on Wednesday."

He argued that bids by others were scheduled to be opened on Tuesday. Therefore, the status quo needs to be maintained and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) should be directed not to declare the results pending hearing its appeal. If an urgent hearing is not allowed, Adani Ports' entire cause and right to file the appeal would become infructuous as JNPT had sought to open the bid on Tuesday morning.

Early this week, the High Court had rejected Adani Ports' plea against its disqualification as non-meritorious. In addition, it also imposed a penalty of Rs.5 lakh on the company. The court refused Adani Ports' request to maintain the status quo and not open the bids till it sought relief before the apex court.

The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) had on May 2 written to Adani Ports that it was disqualified from participating in further stages of the subject tender process, as it had not revealed the termination of a concessionaire agreement between Adani Vizag Coal Terminal (AVCT) and Vishakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT) in 2020.

However, Adani Ports in its appeal before the top court said its disqualification was erroneous because it was Adani Vizag that first terminated the contract with VPT due to force majeure. Thereafter, VPT terminated the contract in December 2020. Hence, VPT's termination was invalid.

According to the petition, VPT rejected the termination, leading to the invocation of arbitration by Adani Vizag. During the pendency of the arbitration, VPT had issued a termination notice, the validity of which was also pending before a three-member arbitral tribunal. The petition further said that the courts could not rewrite the terms of the tender and contract.

Adani Ports further said that JNPT was apprised of the pendency of the arbitration proceedings between VPT and Adani Vizag. It also stated that it had clarified all the queries of JNPT to its fullest satisfaction, which qualified it for bidding.

It stressed that the disqualification for 'non-disclosure' could not be applied, as the JNPA order nowhere identified non-disclosure as the ground for disqualification.