HC upholds MSRDC’s approval for a large-scale logistics park along Samruddhi Mahamarg

The Bombay High Court has upheld the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation’s (MSRDC) approval for a proposed integrated logistics park along the Samruddhi Mahamarg

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has upheld the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation’s (MSRDC) approval for a proposed integrated logistics park along the Samruddhi Mahamarg. The park, proposed by MGSA Realty Private Limited, spanning 167 hectares and 423 acres across four villages, will be built at a cost of ₹2,300 crore, and is expected to generate direct employment for 10,000 people.

(Shutterstock)

A division bench of justices RI Chagla and Farhan Dubhash dismissed a petition filed by Bhadane Industrial and Logistics Parks and two other firms challenging MSRDC’s September 30, 2024 decision to approve MGSA Realty’s proposal.

Bhadane and the two other firms had submitted their own proposal to MSRDC in May 2023 to develop an integrated logistics park along the newly constructed expressway, in accordance with the state government’s 2018 policy. On January 30, acting on their petition, the court had restrained MSRDC from taking any further steps in the matter.

The petitioners argued that although they had submitted their proposal nearly 15 months before MGSA Realty, MSRDC officials did not pay heed to their proposals and then hastily approved MGSA Realty’s proposal submitted in August 2024. The petitioners claimed that MGSA’s plan was approved in just 40 days.

The court, however, rejected this argument after MSRDC’s representatives pointed out that all proposals had been scrutinised by a high-level committee at the corporation and that a note had been prepared for the board of directors to consider each proposal.

The court accepted MSRDC’s argument that MGSA Realty’s proposal covered a significantly larger area and was therefore approved by its board. Compared to MGSA Reality’s plan, the other petitioners only proposed developing an area of 105 hectares and 34 acres at a cost of ₹1,480 crore.

MSRDC added that the approved project is expected to create 10,000 direct and 50,000 indirect employment opportunities, whereas the petitioners’ proposal projected 2,000 direct and 5,000 indirect jobs.