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Informist, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Delhi High Court on Monday rejected a plea by Kurukshetra Expressway Pvt. Ltd., a joint venture of Kalpataru Projects International Ltd., seeking INR 9.1 billion in claims against the National Highways Authority of India in an arbitration dispute. The division bench of the High Court upheld its single-judge order, which set aside a 2024 arbitral award for termination payment of INR 9.1 billion and interest thereon.

 

The bench of Justice Anil Kshetarpal and Justice Shail Jain said it did not find any error in the single judge's decision to set aside the arbitral award for the two claims. The single judge remained within the limited scope of Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 and correctly found that the arbitral tribunal's construction amounted to rewriting the concession agreement, rather than a permissible interpretation of its terms, thereby attracting the ground of patent illegality, it said.

 

The single judge was also correct in reading the total cost project definition and the termination payment clause harmoniously, as complementary provisions forming part of the same contractual scheme, the division bench said. This court, while exercising jurisdiction under Section 37 of the 1996 Act, confined its examination to the legality of the exercise undertaken under Section 34 and did not re-appreciate the merits of the dispute, it said.

 

In 2010, Kurukshetra Expressway and the highways authority executed a concession agreement under which the former was granted a concession, on a design-build-finance-operate-transfer basis, for the four-laning of the Rohtak–Bawal Section of National Highway-71 in the state of Haryana. Kurukshetra Expressway initiated arbitration proceedings because of the prolonged suspension of toll operations caused by the farmers' agitation and the COVID-19 pandemic, which the company characterised as an indirect political force majeure event subsisting for more than 180 days within a continuous period of 365 days.      

 

In 2021, Kurukshetra Expressway terminated the agreement and called upon the highways authority to make a termination payment of INR 13.48 billion together with certain other sums. Since no payment was forthcoming, the dispute was referred to a third round of arbitration, culminating in an arbitral award that ruled largely in favour of Kurukshetra Expressway. The highways authority challenged the arbitral award before the single-judge bench, which partially set it aside. 

 

On Monday, shares of Kalpataru Projects International ended 1.1% lower at INR 1,375.60 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Saji George Titus

 

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