Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.(SAM) secured successive interim orders from the Hon’ble Delhi High Court, within a span of three days, in favour of Oriental Structural Engineers Private Limited (“Bidder”) and Poondiankuppam Sattanathapuram Section Private Limited (“Concessionaire”).
The interim orders were passed on two writ petitions filed on behalf of the clients challenging certain coercive actions initiated by National Highways Authority of India (“NHAI”) and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (“MoRTH”) with regard to an alleged incident on a National Highway section.
First Order dated 13 October 2026 – Interim stay of NHAI’s Debarment Order
The debarment order was passed in the backdrop of an alleged incident involving the Poondiankuppam—Sattanathapuram section of NH-45A in Tamil Nadu.
On 30 September 2026, NHAI declared the Bidder and the Concessionaire as “Non-Performers” and debarred them from participating in tenders floated by MoRTH, NHAI and other executing agencies for a period of one year or until completion of the prescribed rectification works, whichever was later. NHAI also imposed a hefty monetary penalty on the Concessionaire.
SAM challenged the debarment order before the Hon’ble Delhi High Court by filing W.P.(C) 15213/2026.
On 13 October 2026, the Hon’ble Delhi High Court, while issuing notice in the writ petition, stayed the debarment order as an interim measure. Significantly, the Hon’ble Court prima facie observed that once a completion certificate had been issued almost two years earlier, a debarment order could not have been passed for subsequently discovered defects without adjudication by the contractual dispute resolution mechanism (which had been invoked by the Concessionaire).
The Hon’ble Court also directed NHAI to duly publish information regarding the stay order on its website.
Second Order dated 16 October 2026 – Interim stay of MoRTH’s ‘Catastrophic Event’ Notification
Pending the challenge to NHAI’s debarment order, MoRTH, by a separate order dated 12 October 2026, notified the very same incident as a “Catastrophic Event” under its applicable policy circulars, with the consequence of debarring the Concessionaire/Bidder from participating in tenders of MoRTH’s executing agencies for a period of two years.
SAM challenged MoRTH’s order before the Hon’ble Delhi High Court by filing W.P.(C) 15494/2026.
On 16 October 2026, the Hon’ble Delhi High Court, while issuing notice in the writ petition, stayed the effect of MoRTH’s order as an interim measure.
Significantly, the SAM Team demonstrated that both actions arose from the identical alleged incident, and that permitting MoRTH’s subsequent order to operate would effectively nullify the interim protection already granted by the Hon’ble Court against NHAI’s debarment order.
The said challenges had to be lodged and listed in extreme urgency and in quick succession, given the sequence of the two orders passed by NHAI and MoRTH. Further, the securing of interim relief was extremely critical for the clients since the orders under challenge were particularly harsh and debilitating for their business (not least because of the restrictions on participation in future highway infrastructure projects by the executing agencies of MoRTH).
The Bidder and the Concessionaire were represented at the Court hearings by Mr. Sandeep Sethi, Senior Advocate, briefed by the SAM Team led by Partners Ajit Warrier and Angad Kochhar, along with Himanshu Setia (Senior Associate) and Tanvi Chhabra (Associate).
