Delhi HC paves way to scrap GMR's road contract.

The Delhi high court recently cleared the way for scrapping the contract for country's largest highway project. Justice V K Rao dismissed the petition of infrastructure major GMR challenging NHAI's move to invoke the bank guarantee. Sources said that concessionaire's Rs. 269 crore bank guarantee is lying with NHAI.

GMR had bagged the 555 km Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad highway project costing Rs. 5,500 crore in November 2011. Citing failure on the p.art of NHAI to get statutory clearances, the private player had issued a notice of intention to terminate the contract with NHAI in 2012. Thereafter, it had moved the HC seeking stay on NHAI invoking its bank guarantee.

NHAI had rejected GMR's termination notice, saying this move was based on flimsy ground and was factually not-correct. 'However, in the due course of time, efforts were made to revive the project. But nothing helped. So, even NHAI board had approved to terminate the contract. Now with the HC order, the contract stands terminated as termination ends with encashment of the bank guarantee,' said a road ministry official.


TOI