MIS H.R. CONSTRUCTION PRIVATE LIMITED, vs NATIONAL HIGHWAYS AND INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION LIMITED (NHIDCL),

Judgment text excerpt

$~30 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Date of decision: 20.02.2026 + ARB.P. 254/2026, I.A. 3470/2026 (For Exemption) & I.A. 3471/2026 (For Exemption) MIS H.R. CONSTRUCTION PRIVATE LIMITED, .....Petitioner Through: Mr.Fahim A. Khan, Mr Mohd Yousuf Ali and Mr. Tabish Kamal, Advocates versus NATIONAL HIGHWAYS AND INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION LIMITED (NHIDCL), .....Respondent Through: Mr. Balendu Shekhar, Ms.Tanisha Samanta, Mr. Krishna Chaitanya, Mr. Rajkumar Maurya and Mr. Divyansh Singh Dev, Advocates through vc CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HARISH VAIDYANATHAN SHANKAR % JUDGEMENT (ORAL) HARISH VAIDYANATHAN SHANKAR, J. 1. The present Petition under Section 11(6) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 19961, seeks the appointment of an Arbitrator to adjudicate upon the disputes arising out of the Contract Agreement dated 24.03.20212. 1 Act 2 Agreement Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:HARVINDER KAUR BHATIA ARB.P. 254/2026 Page 1 of 6 Signing Date:24.02.2026 15:19:50 2. Learned counsel for the Respondent, at the very outset, raises a preliminary objection on the maintainability of the present Petition and draws the attention of this Court to the Notice invoking arbitration dated 28.11.2025. 3. He submits that the present Notice invoking arbitration, as per the terms of Section 21 of the Act read with Clause 26.3 of the Agreement, has not been addressed to the Respondent against whom the reliefs are stated to be sought and thus, the present Petition is not maintainable. 4. A perusal of the Notice dated 28.11.2025 shows that the same has been addressed to the Director General, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and not the Respondent - National Highways And Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL). 5. He also draws the attention