In a significant setback to Tata Motors, the Supreme Court delivered the ruling on May 19, dismissing the companys plea challenging its disqualification from a tender to supply 1400 electric buses to Mumbai worth Rs 2,450 crore. Notably, the plea was rejected by Justices S V Gangapurwala and Madhav Jamdar, which was filed by the auto major challenging the disqualification.According to the sources, Tata Motors had a disagreement with the contract that the Bombay Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) had given to Evey Trans. And in the most recent development, the court confirmed BESTs judgement, dealing Tata Motors a severe setback with regard to its ambitions in the electric bus industry.Tata Motors appeal was denied by the Supreme Court, and the Bombay High Court ruling for BEST to launch a new tender was also overturned. This ruling effectively ended any chance of reconsideration or a fresh bidding procedure and upheld BESTs power to award the contract to Evey Trans.Reportedly, the BEST had earlier disqualified Tatas bid calling it technically non-responsive and awarded the contract to Hyderabad-based Evey Trans Pvt Ltd.Tata Motors has not yet issued a formal comment in response to the courts ruling. The companys response and any potential next steps are eagerly anticipated by investors and industry watchers. Tata Motors stock was up 2.35 percent over the previous close when it was quoted at Rs 520.40 at midday on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).For Mumbai and its suburbs, on a 12-year gross cost contract (GCC) basis, BEST has published a tender notice for the operation of stage carriage services including 1,400 single-decker AC electric buses (with driver).
