M A I N   N E W S

panipat- Jalandhar highway
SC sets one-yr deadline for work to be completed
R Sedhuraman
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, April 17
The Supreme Court today set March 31, 2015 as the deadline for completion of the widening work on the 291-km Panipat-Jalandhar highway, forming part of NH-1, to lay two additional lanes by Soma Isolux and clarified that the company would have to pay penalty if it overshot the timeline.

A Bench comprising Justices Gyan Sudha Misra and PC Ghose also directed the company to submit quarterly progress reports to the National Highway Authority (NHAI) on the construction work.

The apex court set aside the May 27, 2013 order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court cancelling the May 2008 contract awarded to the company on a PIL for the slow progress of work on the Rs 4,500-crore project. The HC had directed the NHAI to undertake the remaining work on the highway.

The company had come to the SC, challenging the HC verdict. The apex court also clarified that neither the NHAI nor the contractor could raise any further litigation over the project in any court as this would be against public interest, besides impeding work.

In case the project was delayed, NHAI would decide the penalties that would have to be paid by the company under the terms of the contract, the Bench clarified.

The SC allowed the company’s plea for shifting one of the toll plazas closer to Karnal and Yamunagar to prevent the vehicles from bypassing the toll gate to avoid payment which, according to the contractor was resulting in loss of revenue to the extent of Rs 689 crore a year rendering the project unviable.

The plaza should be shifted from the existing point at 146 km to any location between 110 and 117 km expeditiously but not later than two months, the Bench clarified.

The HC was not justified in holding only the company responsible for the delay in completing the work. “It is difficult to overlook that the appellant admittedly has completed 71% of the 291-km stretch and now barely 29% is yet to be constructed which is enmeshed in litigation,” primarily over relocating the toll plaza, the SC noted.

Under the contract, the company would convert the four-lane highway to six lanes and recover its investment and earn a reasonable return by collecting toll for 15 years.