The case relates to a commercial plot at Sindhu Bhavan Road in the Bodakdev area of the city measuring 8,060 square metres.
A real estate firm has taken Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s municipal commissioner and estate department to court after the civic body abruptly cancelled the process for the sale of a commercial plot worth over Rs 151 crore in a prime area of the city, after the firm’s bid was declared to be ‘approved for sale’.
The Gujarat High Court, on September 8, issued a notice to the state and the civic body authorities, asking the respondents to reply by September 14.
The case relates to a commercial plot at Sindhu Bhavan Road in the Bodakdev area of the city measuring 8,060 square metres. The AMC had floated a tender in April, offering for the plot for sale and subsequently, the sale was approved in favour of city-based Shresth Infraspace. However, this process was then cancelled, according to the petitioner, “as per their (AMC’s) whims and caprice”.
The upset price — the minimum base price — for the plot was fixed at Rs 1.88 lakh per square metre and Shresth Infraspace had made the highest bid at Rs 1,88,300 per square metre, whereafter, the firm’s bid was declared ‘approved for sale’.
However, according to the petitioner, on July 2, upon inquiry by the firm, AMC communicated that the tender for the sale of the plot has been cancelled/suspended by way of an order of June 29, issued by the municipal commissioner. The petition says, “In the said impugned order (by the municipal commissioner)…he has noted that, only Rs 300 more per square metre is offered by the petitioner than the upset price fixed and that there were only two bidders who came forward for bidding in the e-auction. In view of the same, (municipal commissioner)…had passed an order stating, in the financial interest of the AMC, the said tender was suspended till fresh auction is conducted.”
The petition points out that during a similar auction of a plot in the Bodakdev area in 2019, the minimum base price had been set at Rs 1,58,100 per square metre and the highest bid received was of Rs 1,58,400, that is, a difference of Rs 300 per square metre, yet the bid was accepted.
