The Supreme Court had some strong words for the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) after it saw that the NHAI took too long to file an important appeal. The court said the government should really think about what went wrong and hold the workers responsible. Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna complained that while everyone else meets their deadlines, the government isn’t doing the same.
The court was surprised by the request from the government to excuse a huge delay of 229 days in filing their appeal at the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal about an insolvency case. They indicated that if the NHAI had acted quickly, they might have had a better chance to win.
The Chief Justice said there were no good reasons to interfere with the previous court’s decision that said NHAI’s appeal was too late, so their case was thrown out. He emphasized that the government must reflect on its actions.
The Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta, agreed to look into the issue with the NHAI chairman.
A few years back in 2010, NHAI made a deal with IVRCL Chengapalli Tollways, which was supposed to start collecting fees from 2015 and pay NHAI ₹36 crore every year. However, IVRCL never paid a single rupee. After giving them a second chance in 2016, the NHAI cancelled that in March 2021 because IVRCL didn’t follow the rules.
In 2022, a court in Hyderabad allowed IVRCL to start going through bankruptcy proceedings. NHAI claimed they were owed ₹445 crore, and the company’s financial manager agreed that NHAI should get about ₹400 crore as a type of debt.
NHAI’s appeal claimed they should have been part of the committee making important decisions. They argued that the resolution plan unfairly changed the agreement they had. Without NHAI on board, decisions were made that they believe were wrong, including plans that went against their interests.
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