ERA INFRA ENGINEERING LIMITED vs NATIONAL HIGHWAYS AUTHORITY OF INDIA & ANR.

Judgment text excerpt

* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Judgment reserved on: 10.03.2026 Judgment pronounced on: 23.03.2026 + ARB. A. (COMM.) 47/2025 & I.A. 22290/2025 ERA INFRA ENGINEERING LIMITED .....Appellant Through: Mr. Sudhir Nandrajog, Sr. Adv. and Mr. Kirtiman Singh, Sr. Adv. with Mr. Kushil Anand, Mr. Manthan Dixit, Mr. Maullick, Ms. Ankita, Advs. versus NATIONAL HIGHWAYS AUTHORITY OF INDIA & ANR. .....Respondents Through: Mr. Santosh Kumar, Standing Counsel with Mr. Siddharth Mehta, Mr. Ritik Dwivedi, Advs. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AVNEESH JHINGAN JUDGMENT 1. The appeal under Section 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (for short ‗the Act‘) is filed against the award of the Arbitral Tribunal (for short ‗the tribunal‘) dated 30.07.2025 rejecting application for impleadment. Facts 2. The brief facts are that the National Highways Authority of India (for short ‗NHAI‘) issued a Notice Inviting Tender in February 2009 for four-laning of the ‗Muzaffarnagar–Haridwar section of NH- Signature Not Verified Signed By:CHANCHAL ARB. A. (COMM.) 47/2025 Signing Date:23.03.2026 Page 1 of 26 16:36:55 58‘ in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The appellant, ERA Infra Engineering Limited, a public limited company along with Open Joint Stock Company (OJSC)-SIBMOST after entering into a Joint Bidding Agreement dated 26.03.2009, bidded as a consortium and was awarded the project on 29.12.2009. In terms of clauses 2.2.6(f) and 2.2.6(g) of the Request for Qualifications (‗RFQ‘) and the Letter of Acceptance (LOA), a Special Purpose Vehicle (for short ‗SPV‘) - Haridwar Highway Private Limited, a limited liability company under the Companies Act, 1956 was incorporated on 02.02.2010. The LOA required the concessionaire i.e. SPV to furnish an unconditional bank guarantee of