Dutch firm takes DCI to NCLT
over ₹93.12-crore unpaid dues
Charges relate to a
sub-contracting deal
between the two firms
for work at JNPT
P MANOJ
Mumbai, September 5
Dredging contractor Van Oord India
has filed a petition in the National
Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seek-
ing to recover unpaid dues of ₹93.12
crore from Dredging Corporation of
India (DCI) on a contract it had under-
taken at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port
Trust (JNPT) on behalf of DCI.
The petition seeks to initiate cor-
porate insolvency resolution process
(CIRP) against DCI under
Section 8 and 9 of the In-
solvency and Bankruptcy
Code (IBC).
Van Oord India is the
wholly-owned Indian unit
of Dutch dredging giant
Van Oord Dredging and
Marine Contracting Co.
NV.
Contract on nomination basis
The unpaid dues relate to a sub-con-
tracting deal between DCI and Van
Oord at JNPT, India’s biggest State-run
container port.
In 2019, DCI secured a three-year an-
nual maintenance dredging contract
from JNPT on nomination basis
(without a tender).
In the first year’s contract, DCI out-
sourced a big portion of the work to
another contractor, ISDPL, making
“extra money” in the process.
JNPT later sought refund of the “ex-
tra money” from DCI to avoid poten-
tial adverse observations or queries
from the government auditor, the
Comptroller and Auditor General of
India (CAG), on why the contract
wasn’t tendered out to the lowest bid-
der – the preferred way to determine
market rates – instead of giving it to
DCI on a nomination basis, resulting
in “unjust gain to DCI” from sub-con-
tracting the work at a lower value.
Seeking refund
Dredging industry sources said that
this was the first such instance in the
sector where the employer (JNPT) is
seeking refund from the dredging
contractor (DCI).
It is considered significant because
DCI is now part-owned by JNPT.
In a strategic disinvestment deal, Vi-
sakhapatnam Port Trust, Paradip Port
Trust, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust and
Deendayal Port Trust together ac-
quired the Central govern-
ment’s 73.47 per cent stake
in DCI for ₹1,056 crore in
March 2019. Wiser from the
experience of spending
more than the market rates
for annual dredging in the
first year of the contract,
JNPT decided not to pay the
full amount estimated by
DCI for the second and
third year’s work. Instead, JNPT said it
will only pay DCI the amount it final-
ised with the sub-contractor, plus a 10
per cent extra as supervision/project
management consultancy charges.
DCI sub-contracted the second
year’s work to Van Oord India, which
was completed in March. The unpaid
dues for the work done is the subject
matter of the petition filed before
NCLT.
Van Oord India declined to com-
ment on the NCLT petition, which was
filed on August 31.
GYV Victor, Managing Director and
Chief Executive Officer of DCI, said the
company was yet to receive any notice
from NCLT on the petition. He de-
clined to discuss the matter further.