M/S SIMPLEX INFRASTRUCTURES LTD vs NATIONAL HIGHWAYS AUTHORITY OF INDIA & ANR

Judgment text excerpt

$~ * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Date of Decision: 13th October, 2025 + CS(COMM) 16/2016 M/S SIMPLEX INFRASTRUCTURES LTD .....Plaintiff Through: Mr. Aayush Agarwala and Mr. Saurav Dutta, Advocates. versus NATIONAL HIGHWAYS AUTHORITY OF INDIA .....Defendant Through: Mr. A.P. Singh, Ms. Shrinkhla Tiwari and Ms. Varnit Vashistha, Advocates CORAM: HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE JYOTI SINGH JUDGEMENT JYOTI SINGH, J. 1. This suit is instituted by the Plaintiff for a declaration that Defendant/National Highways Authority of India (‘NHAI’) has not suffered any damages beyond the pre-Bid processing charges of Rs. 77,000/- given by the Plaintiff at the time of submitting pre-Bid documents and is not entitled to forfeit the Bid security amount of Rs. 8.14 crores. Plaintiff also seeks recovery of sum of Rs. 10,36,34,027/- with pendete lite and future interest @ 12% per annum. 2. To the extent relevant, the facts are that NHAI invited Bids for 4-Laning of Koilwar to Bhojpur from Km 137.375 of NH-30 to Km 27.370 of NH-84 in Bihar under NHDP Phase-III on EPC mode. NHAI adopted a single stage two-tier system for selection of the bidder. Eligibility and Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:KAMAL KUMAR CS(COMM) 16/2016 Page 1 of 36 Signing Date:15.10.2025 21:09:17 qualification of the bidder was first examined based on the technical Bids and only those bidders, who qualified in the technical Bids were invited for opening of financial Bids. It was stipulated in Clause 1.2.1 of Request for Proposal (‘RFP’) that bidders must satisfy themselves that they were qualified to bid and should give an undertaking to this effect in the form at Appendix-IA. It was also mentioned therein that Appendix-IA was incorporated as per guidelines issued by the Government of India and NHAI shall be en