The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has awarded a two-year, Rs 14-crore contract for operating and maintaining trash booms to Virgo Specialities Pvt Ltd, a company that was earlier disqualified from civic tenders following an FIR involving its then director in the Mithi River desilting case.
Trash booms are floating barriers installed across waterways to trap solid waste and prevent debris from moving further through drains and canals.
According to records reviewed by The Indian Express, Virgo was earlier rejected in two BMC tenders after authorities cited the FIR filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW). For the latest contract, however, the company argued that the case was against its former director Jay Joshi personally, rather than against Virgo itself.
BMC subsequently sought legal advice and cleared the company as technically eligible.
Contract Covers Six Locations
The tender, issued on March 10, sought an agency to operate and maintain trash-boom systems at six locations in Mumbai’s western suburbs. Four companies submitted bids, with Virgo quoting approximately Rs 14 crore, around Rs 40 lakh below the second-lowest bid. The contract was approved on July 30.
The tender also specified that contractors “who are blacklisted or against whom FIR has been filed” could not participate. However, the condition did not clearly address FIRs filed against directors in their individual capacities.
A senior civic official said, “On that legal position, we could not technically continue with the disqualification,”
Virgo said Joshi “has had no role, involvement, or participation in the activities or operations of the Company, either physically or in relation to its shareholding” since leaving the company. BMC records indicate that he ceased to be a director in August 2025.
Company Rejects Link to Mithi Contract
Virgo said: “The FIR was filed against Jay Joshi in his personal capacity, along with certain other BMC officers and firms that are directly involved in contracts with BMC for desilting work. The FIR was not filed against M/s Virgo Specialties Private Limited.”
It said the company “had not executed any contract with BMC for desilting work in relation to the Mithi River project till date”. “Accordingly, the EOW registered the FIR against Jay Joshi in his individual capacity and not against the Company. Joshi and M/s Virgo Specialties Private Limited are separate and distinct legal entities in the eyes of law. Therefore, any proceedings initiated against Jay Joshi in his personal capacity should not be construed as proceedings against the Company,” it said.
Mithi Case Background
The EOW FIR, registered on May 6, 2025, names Joshi among the accused and alleges a Rs 65.54-crore loss to the civic body in connection with Mithi desilting work.
Joshi was arrested on May 7, 2025, and later granted bail in June. A Sessions Court order noted agreements involving Virgo and specialised machinery used for desilting operations.
The new trash-boom contract covers 5,400 operating shifts and another 5,400 waste-transport shifts. Virgo had previously undertaken similar work for the BMC, receiving a contract worth around Rs 48 crore in 2021.
The latest award has renewed attention on how the civic body evaluates the eligibility of companies whose directors face criminal proceedings, particularly where tender conditions do not expressly distinguish between individual and corporate liability.
Source: The Indian Express
