Chaucer Capital, a UK-based investment company which is also engaged in development of infrastructure recently has filed a writ petition against Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) and the ministry of transport of Maharashtra before the Bombay high court for allegedly failing to issue them with a Letter of Intend (LOI) for the contract which the State had entered into with the company.

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What did the contract say?As per the contract, the company would build a port in the Alewadi area of Thane. The firm claimed that it invested money as well as time in raising the port in India, however the state till date failed to issue the LOI to the company in the absence of which the UK-based company cannot start with their production.

What does the petition say?As per the copy of the writ petition, which is available with dna, the company claimed that the MMB had initiated a plan to develop a port at Alewadi district, Thane. Initially several developers showed interest in undertaking the proposed development. However, in due course, all parties withdrew their offers and the said project came to a standstill. In the month of January 2007, Chaucer Capital showed interest in developing the port and accordingly the process was initiated.

What is the firm's grievance?The company paid Rs5 lakh as processing fees which was an non refundable amount. Accordingly the government of Maharashtra in its communication informed the company that it would issue the LOI to the company, but even after waiting for almost seven years the government failed to issue it.

The company in its say maintained that instead of issuing the project to Chaucer Capital, the MMB privately opened discussions with another Indian company which had never been a part of public process and whose applications have never been subjected to scrutiny process. Thus the petition pleaded the court to direct the government to issue the company with the LOI.