Mumbai: Megha Engineering Infrastructure Ltd (MEIL) has moved the Bombay High Court questioning the maintainability of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by senior journalist V. Ravi Prakash.
The PIL seeks a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the tender awarded to MEIL for constructing the Twin Tube Road Tunnel between Borivali and Thane, a project worth Rs 16,600.40 crore.
The PIL was filed last month alleging that fraudulent bank guarantees (BGs) were issued by a foreign entity in favor of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) on behalf of MEIL. Ravi was represented by senior advocate Prashant Bhushan.
Represented by senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Darius Khambata, MEIL contended that Ravi had suppressed material facts and questioned his locus standi (: a right to appear in a court) to file the PIL.
The company’s application highlighted past legal disputes involving Ravi, particularly a company petition he had filed before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Hyderabad, in 2019, challenging his removal from ABC Pvt. Ltd., a firm in which an MEIL subsidiary holds a significant interest.
The NCLT dismissed the petition in June 2022, imposing a Rs 10 lakh cost on Ravi. Although the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), Chennai, stayed the cost the following month, MEIL argued that Ravi had withheld this litigation history from the court.
Further, the company cited a letter dated July 28, 2024, from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting regarding allegedly defamatory content published by Ravi against MEIL. It also pointed to social media posts by Ravi on February 12 and 13, 2025, wherein he allegedly criticised the judiciary and indicated a personal vendetta behind the PIL.
MEIL claimed that Ravi had “deliberately suppressed material facts regarding prior shareholder, civil, and criminal disputes” with the company, suggesting the PIL was motivated. The application also accused him of enclosing confidential government documents without authorization or disclosing their source.
A bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Bharati Dangre asked Ravi to submit his reply to MEIL’s plea and kept the matter for hearing on March 5.
