The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court quashed and set aside the letter dated March 19, 2020 issued by MIHAN India Limited annulling the bidding process for the Nagpur Airport.

It further directed MIHAN India Limited to take all steps in terms of the request for proposal conditions, including signing of a Concession Agreement for the Nagpur Airport, within 6 weeks.

Also see: GMR Infra pares Q1 loss to ₹318 cr

It may be noted that the GMR Group had emerged as the highest bidder in the tender process conducted by MIHAN India Limited for the Nagpur Airport in 2019.

The Letter of Award was issued to GMR in March 2019. However, the Government of Maharashtra decided to cancel the tender process in March 2020 and MIHAN issued a letter annulling the bid process.

The decision of MIHAN was challenged by GMR before the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court. The Bench heard the petition and delivered the judgement on August 18, 2021, quashing and setting aside the annulment letter issued by MIHAN and directing MIHAN to execute the Concession Agreement for the project, GMR informed the BSE today.

GMR Airports Limited, a subsidiary of the company, was awarded the concession for Nagpur Airport, which was later cancelled.

Recently, GM Rao, Chairman of GMR Group, in the company annual report stated, “GMR Group has set benchmarks for development of world class Airport infrastructure. Company developed the GMR brand as name to reckon for Airport construction not only in India but also Philippines where it successfully constructed and handed over Clarke Airport ahead of schedule and completed Terminal 2 of CEBU Airport. Company is currently investing ₹20,000 crore to expand the existing Airports and develop new Airports.”