MUMBAI, Feb. 28 -- The Bombay High Court on Friday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the revised 2022 tender for redevelopment of Dharavi, one of Asia's largest slum clusters, and inclusion of the Mother Diary plot in Kurla and salt pan lands in other parts of Mumbai within the project. The petitioner, technical consultant Vasant Shiwappa Pailwan aged 74 years, was a "stranger" to the bidding process preceding award of the tender in December 2022 as he did not feature among the bidders; hence, he could not be permitted to lay a challenge on tender and the PIL filed by him had no "foundational basis", the court held. "We indicate that a concluded contract cannot be examined by the high court even on the ground that a few issues were not raised before in the previous challenge or arguments would have been presented in a better manner", the court said. As reported by HT earlier, bids for the redevelopment of Dharavi were first invited in November 2018, with the tender document referring to possible inclusion of some railway land in the project. But the tender was cancelled subsequently owing to lack of clarity about inclusion of land beyond Dharavi. On October 1, 2022, the state invited fresh bids for the redevelopment project, while in December 2022, the tender was awarded to the Adani Group-led Dharavi Redevelopment Project Private Limited (DRPPL); subsequently a 21-acre plot in Kurla, formerly housing a state-run Mother Diary unit, and 256 acres of salt pan land in different parts of Mumbai was included within the scope of the project, for rehabilitation of a section of Dharavi residents. SecLink Technologies Corporation, which was among the three bidders for the revised tender, challenged the award in the high court. But on December 20, 2024, the court dismissed the plea, saying it "lacked force". The 74-year-old Pilawan filed a PIL on December 10, 2025, challenging the revised tender and the inclusion of large parcels of government land in the project. "Cancelling an earlier tender, issuance of a fresh tender, and subsequent transfer of additional lands smacks of favouritism," the PIL said, alleging it showed the authorities' intent to benefit the developer "at the cost of average citizens". The mother dairy plot, which was never part of the tender process, was allotted to DRPPL at a discount of 75%, causing massive loss to the public exchequer; while inclusion of salt pan land altered the bidding parameters and "amounted to changing the rules of the game", the PIL said. Pailwan sought scrapping of the October 2022 tender notice and setting aside the award of the contract to DRPPL. The high court, however, held that legality of the revised tender had already been examined earlier by the court via its order dated December 20, 2024. The tender notice contained specific clauses allowing the private contractor concerned to take over and sell government land, and the applicable compensation had been paid, the court noted. "By merely attempting to make out a new case by throwing a new challenge, the petitioner cannot maintain this writ petition in the garb of a PIL", the court said, dismissing Pilawan's plea....