India’s Supreme Court has directed the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority to deposit ₹646.78 crore with the court while it examines the authority’s appeal in a long-running land-premium dispute with Reliance Industries.
A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu issued notice and set a timetable for written responses. Reliance is to file its counter by October 30, MMRDA may reply by November 6, and the connected matters are due to return on November 18. The deposit is also required by November 6.
The dispute arises from land allotted for a convention centre and commercial development in Mumbai’s Bandra-Kurla Complex. MMRDA later demanded additional premium on the ground that construction had not been completed within the contractual period. Reliance contested both the starting point used for that period and the authority’s power to raise the demand in the manner it did.
The Bombay High Court in April set aside demands made in 2017 and 2019. It ordered the authority to return approximately ₹646.78 crore and release a bank guarantee said to be worth about ₹1,312 crore. MMRDA has argued in the Supreme Court that the High Court should not have resolved a heavily contested contractual dispute in writ proceedings.
Monday’s order does not decide whether the premium was lawfully demanded or whether Reliance ultimately keeps the money. Its practical effect is to secure the amount while the appeal advances, limiting the risk that the dispute over repayment will outlast the proceedings themselves.
The case is Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority v Reliance Industries Limited, Diary No. 54980 of 2026. The court’s directions are interim and the merits remain open.
