Disclaimer: This has been reported after the availability of the order of the Court and not on media reports so as to give an accurate report to our readers.
Delhi High Court: In a writ petition arising out of a contractual dispute between a Roadway Solutions India Infra Ltd. and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), regarding execution of the Delhi—Mumbai Expressway Project, a Single-Judge Bench of Madhu Jain, J., grants interim stay on NHAI’s termination notice in Delhi—Mumbai Expressway contract dispute.
In the instant matter, the petitioner entered into a contract dated 19-01-2024 with the respondent/NHAI, for execution of a segment of the Delhi—Mumbai Expressway Project. Under the contract, NHAI was obligated to hand over 90% of the Right of Way, in a contiguous stretch of not less than 5 kilometres, upon which the “Appointed Date” was to be declared.
According to the petitioner, despite execution of the contract, the respondent failed to provide the requisite contiguous land. Owing to non-provision of land, disputes arose, culminating in a Settlement Agreement dated 23-08-2024 (SA-1). As the land subsequently made available contained “various hindrances” and the petitioner was compelled to execute work “in patches and fragments of available land”, work progress remained adversely affected, leading to a second Settlement Agreement dated 04-04-2025 (SA-2).
On 06-06-2025, the petitioner informed the respondent that it had achieved 17.82% financial progress. Fresh disputes arose regarding the interpretation of the term “financial progress”, which was admittedly not defined in the contract. This resulted in issuance of a Notice of Intent to Terminate (NITT) dated 16-06-2025 by NHAI.
The petitioner challenged the said NITT by invoking Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. During pendency of proceedings, parties once again attempted resolution and executed Settlement Agreement No. 3 dated 12-08-2025 (SA-3).
Under SA-3, the petitioner agreed to achieve “Expenditure/Progress” of 10% by 25-11-2025, with a grace period of 30 days and re-scheduling of remaining milestones; NHAI undertook to endeavour to provide hindered land by 25-11-2025, failing which such land would not be considered for issuance of Completion Certificate; and NHAI agreed to withdraw the earlier NITT dated 16-06-2025.
The petitioner asserted that for the first time NHAI admitted land availability at 82.4%, contrary to earlier claims of 94.85%. A joint verification conducted allegedly revealed further hindrances of 425 metres, reducing availability to 81.2%. The petitioner claimed achievement of Milestone-1 under SA-3 and intimated that it had achieved 19.34% Expenditure/Progress.
Subsequently, citing non-availability of contiguous land, the petitioner issued its own NITT dated 18-12-2025. Shortly thereafter, NHAI issued a fresh NITT dated 23-12-2025, which was impugned in the present petition. The petitioner also apprehended imminent encashment of two insurance surety bonds aggregating to approximately ₹100 crores, issued on 09-09-2024 and 29-10-2024.
The petitioner sought for stay of the NITT dated 23-12-2025, restraint on invocation and encashment of the insurance surety bonds and ex-parte interim protection pending adjudication.
The Court observed that encashment of the insurance surety bonds, aggregating to nearly ₹100 crores, prior to final adjudication could result in “grave and irreversible loss and injury” to the petitioner.
Accordingly, the Court restrained the respondent from acting upon the NITT dated 23-12-2025 till the next date of hearing. The Court issued the notice, fixed the reply and rejoinder timelines and directed the matter to be listed before the roster bench on 09-02-2026.
[Roadway Solutions India Infra Ltd. v. NHAI, O.M.P. (I) (COMM.) No. 1 of 2026, Decided on 02-01-2026]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
Mr. Gopal Jain, Sr. Adv. with Mr.Samir Malik, Mr. Varun Kalra, Mr. Pranav Khanna and Mr. Krishan Kumar, Counsel for the Petitioner
Mr. Abhay Gupta and Ms. Simran Goel, Counsel for the Respondent