NATIONAL HIGHWAYS AUTHORITY OF INDIA vs HINDUSTAN CONSTRUCTION CO.LTD

Judgment text excerpt

$~J * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Judgment reserved on: 31.07.2025 Judgment pronounced on: 16.10.2025 + O.M.P. (COMM) 99/2017 NATIONAL HIGHWAYS AUTHORITY OF INDIA....Petitioner Through: Mr. Zafar Khurshid, Mr. Amit Singh Chauhan, Ms. Kshitij Singh, Mr. Udit Chauhan, Advs. versus HINDUSTAN CONSTRUCTION CO. LTD .....Respondent Through: Mr. Dayan Krishna, Sr. Adv. with Mr. Anirudh Bakhru, Mr. Rishi Agrawala, Ms. Shruti Arora, Ms. Vasundhara Bakhru, Ms. Tarini Khurana, Advs. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JASMEET SINGH JUDGMENT : JASMEET SINGH, J 1. This is a petition filed under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“the Act”) seeking to set aside the Arbitral Award dated 14.10.2016 passed by the Arbitral Tribunal (“Tribunal”) in the matter of “Hindustan Construction Co. Ltd. and National Digitally Signed By:MAYANK Signing Date:16.10.2025 18:00:35 O.M.P. (COMM) 99/2017 Page 1 of 71 Highways Authority of India” to the limited extent that pertains to amounts awarded to respondent, in Dispute No. 6. FACTUAL BACKGROUND 2. The petitioner (respondent before the Tribunal), National Highways Authority of India (“NHAI”), is a statutory body constituted under Section 3 of the National Highways Authority of India Act, 1988. Under Section 16 of the said Act, NHAI has been entrusted with the responsibility to develop, maintain, and manage National Highways assigned to it by the Central Government. All National Highways vest in the Central Government under Section 4 of the National Highways Act, 1956, and in terms of Section 11 of the 1988 Act, the Central Government entrusted the execution of the project in question to NHAI. The project related to the four-laning of National Highway No. 28 from Km 45.00 to Km 92.00 of the Lucknow - Ayodhya Section (“the Proj