A metro train near Dahisar slum in Mumbai.
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: In a development that has snowballed into a major political issue, France-based multinational company Systra, an engineering and consulting group in the mobility sector, has accused officials of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) of corruption involving Mumbai metro projects and has sought diplomatic intervention.
The development comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.
This charge comes as a major embarrassment for the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP-NDA dispensation.
The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi-I.N.D.I.A bloc slammed the Centre and the Maharashtra government and demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Senior MMRDA officials, including the Metropolitan Commissioner, must be transferred to ensure a transparent probe, the opposition demanded just a week ahead of the commencement of the budget session of Maharashtra Legislature.
In a letter on November 12, 2024, the French embassy had urged Maharashtra's Resident Commissioner in Delhi, Rupinder Singh, to address the company's concerns as it had faced 'severe harassment and challenges' while serving as a general consultant on multiple MMRDA projects.
Fadnavis, according to a newspaper report, has promised to take up the issue with state Chief Secretary Sujata Saunik.
Fadnavis’ deputies—Eknath Shinde, who is the Urban Development Minister and Ajit Pawar, who is the state Finance and Planning Minister—have not commented on the issue so far.
The MMRDA comes under the Urban Development Department, held by Shinde.
Mumbai Congress President Prof Varsha Gaikwad, who is the Mumbai North Central MP, demanded a CBI probe into the graft charge.
“The firm, which has played a key role in designing and overseeing Mumbai Metro projects, has even alleged that it was 'pressured to inflate expenses' and subjected to 'severe harassment'. These shocking claims have now been escalated to the French embassy. This is a direct hit to Mumbai’s credibility as a global economic hub,” the former minister said.
“The government cannot be allowed to hush this up—just as it did when the US probe exposed large-scale corruption linked to Adani in India,” she said, seeking reply from Fadnavis.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA and former minister Aaditya Thackeray said while India and France get closer diplomatically, the MMRDA, run by Shinde’s Urban Development department, rubbishes concerns of corruption raised by the French consultant.
"I have said this before and I say this again Shinde was CM - 'corrupt mantri',” he said and urged Fadnavis for an open, free and fair inquiry into this issue. “An overseas consultant working for a decade in Mumbai, that too French, can’t be sidelined and rubbished when they raise claims of corruption,” he said.
NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar said that it does not befit the culture of Maharashtra to have received a notice from a foreign embassy. “If Maharashtra is being defamed globally how will investment come to the state,” he added.
HC sets aside termination of contract
Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday set aside a notice issued in November 2024, terminating the contract awarded to Systra MVA Consulting (India) Pvt Ltd, ruling that the cancellation was “arbitrary and unreasonable”.
As general consultant for Mumbai's Metro Lines 5, 6, 7A, 9, 10 and 12 and detailed design provider for Lines 2A, 7, and associated depots, Systra has claimed that it was being pressed by MMRDA for monetary benefits and delayed the company’s payments.
A division bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Arif Doctor ruled that a state agency cannot take arbitrary decisions even in a "contractual field” and noted that MMRDA failed to provide reasons for discontinuing the services of Systra.
The contract was initially set to expire in November 2024 but was extended till December 2026. However, on January 3, 2025, MMRDA issued a notice terminating the agreement, which Systra challenged in the Bombay High Court.