Highway body, E-way operator bury the hatchet

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the operator of the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that they had “settled in principle” all their differences that had led to the nodal highway agency issuing lease termination notice to the concessionaire in February this year.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the operator of the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that they had “settled in principle” all their differences that had led to the nodal highway agency issuing lease termination notice to the concessionaire in February this year."We are happy to say that we have arrived at a settlement in principle. We want to close the matter at the earliest," N K Kaul, the senior lawyer appearing for operator Delhi-Gurgaon Super

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Connectivity (DCSCL) Limited told justice S Muralidhar. He was flanked by lawyers of the NHAI.

Kaul said a meeting took place between the NHAI and the concessionaire and the issues between the two parties had been settled. Both sides sought further time to “formalise” the settlement and to enable them to take internal approvals.

According to DGSCL, the relations between the two parties turned sour after the NHAI accused it of fraud in the form of re-financing the project without its approval.

The NHAI had on February 17 issued termination notice to the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway operator for violating the terms of agreement it had entered with the government’s nodal highway building agency.

The highway authority had said that the firm changed financiers and took loan from them and used the money without its approval. The developer approached the court after it was put on notice.