Supreme Court - Daily Orders
National Highways Authority Of India vs M/S Irb Ahmedabad Vadodara Super ... on 13 September, 2024
1
ITEM NO.28 COURT NO.1 SECTION XIV
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (C) No(s). 20658/2024
(Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 20-08-2024
in OMP(ENF.)(COMM.) No. 179/2024 passed by the High Court of Delhi
at New Delhi)
NATIONAL HIGHWAYS AUTHORITY OF INDIA Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
M/S IRB AHMEDABAD VADODARA
SUPER EXPRESS TOLLWAYS PVT. LTD Respondent(s)
(IA No. 202319/2024 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING C/C OF THE IMPUGNED
JUDGMENT)
Date : 13-09-2024 These matters were called on for hearing today.
CORAM : HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE J.B. PARDIWALA
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MANOJ MISRA
For Petitioner(s) Mr. Tushar Mehta, SG
Mr. Ankur Mittal, AOR
Ms. Nidhi Mittal, Adv.
Mr. Abhay Gupta, Adv.
Mr. Sanjivan Chakraborty, Adv.
Ms. Muskan Jain, Adv.
For Respondent(s) Mr. Vikram Nankani, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Ritin Rai, Sr. Adv.
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
1 On 7 April 2024, an arbitral award was made in favour of the petitioner -
National Highways Authority of India against the respondent. The amount due in Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by Gulshan Kumar Arora Date: 2024.09.13 terms of the award is stated to be in the vicinity of Rs 1764 crores as of date. 16:44:47 IST Reason: 2 2 On 21 May 2024, the petitioner instituted a proceeding under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 to secure the amount due in terms of the arbitral award.
3 On June 2024, notice was issued by a Single Judge of the High Court but no interim relief was granted.
4 In appeal by an order dated 5 July 2024, the Division Bench of the High Court requested the Single Judge to dispose of the petition under Section 9 expeditiously.
5 In July 2024, the respondent has instituted a proceeding under Section 34 to challenge the arbitral award.
6 Orders were reserved on the petition under Section 9 on 19 July 2024. 7 On 24 July 2024, a Single Judge of the High Court has reserved judgment on the petition under Section 34 filed by the respondent. 8 In the meantime, a petition to execute the award was filed under Section 36 by the petitioner on which notice has been issued.
9 On 10 September 2024, the Single Judge has noted that an endeavour is being made to take a decision on the petition under Section 9 as expeditiously as possible and accordingly, the enforcement petition has been directed to be re- notified on 27 September 2024.
10 It is at this stage that the National Highways Authority of India has moved this Court under Section 136 of the Constitution of India. 3 11 During the course of hearing, we have heard Mr Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General and Mr. Vikram Nankani and Mr Ritin Rai, senior counsel on behalf of the respondent.
12 In response to a query of the Court, a statement has been made on behalf of the respondent that at present, an amount of Rs 17.47 crores lies to the credit of the Escrow Account which has been maintained by the respondent out of the realisation from the toll road project. Apart from this, Mr Ritin Rai, senior counsel has placed on the record a certificate by M/s Gokhale & Sathe, chartered Accountants for IRB Infrastructure Developers Limited as on 31 March 2024. IRB Infrastructure Developers Limited are the promoters of the respondent which is the Special Purpose Vehicle formed for the purpose of the project. The statement of net worth appended to the certificate indicates the net worth to be Rs 9,699 crores as of 31 March 2024. The net worth is largely comprised of reserve created out of profits (Rs 2655.78 crores) and Securities’ premium account (Rs 6,440.25 crores).
13 Liberty to implead IRB Infrastructure Developers Limited as a party in these proceedings.
14 Issue notice to the newly impleaded respondent. 15 Dasti service is permitted in addition.
17 List on 17 September 2024.
(GULSHAN KUMAR ARORA) (SAROJ KUMARI GAUR)
AR-CUM-PS ASSISTANT REGISTRAR