The court emphasized the importance of adhering to the claimed period for force majeure and directed parties to avail remedies for contractual claims in accordance with the law.

JUDGMENT

Prathiba M. Singh, J. (Oral)--This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.

2. The present writ petition has been filed by the Petitioner who was awarded the contract for "User Fee Collection at the Banajodi Fee Plaza" in the State of Odisha. The said contract was entered into on 13th October, 2020 for a period of one year from 15th October, 2020 to 15th October, 2021. The said period was post the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

3. The Petitioner invoked the force majeure clause in the contract and raised various claims by issuing notices to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) (MoRTH). The said claims of the Petitioner were initially not replied to by the NHAI. A writ petition was filed by the Petitioner herein, being W.P.(C) 9000/2021 titled `PSL Infratech Private Limited v. National Highway Authority of India & Anr.' in which the Court records the stand of NHAI that the claim is still pending consideration and permitted it to decide the same. The order dated 26th August, 2021 reads as under:

"CM APPL. 27976/2021

1. Exemption allowed, subject to all just exceptions.

2. The application is disposed of.

W.P.(C) 9000/2021

3. Vide the present petition, the petitioner which has been awarded the right to collect toll at the toll plaza located at Banajodi, Odisha on NH 215 has approached this Court being aggrieved by the respondents' initiation of coercive action against the petitioner without deciding its pending representation invoking force majeure in terms of the agreement between the parties.

4. After the matter was heard at some length yesterday, learned counsel for the respondent was granted time to obtain instructions. Today, he submits that keeping in view the fact that the petitioner's representation invoking force majeure is still pending consideration, the respondents will withhold any coercive action against the petitioner till a decision is taken on the petitioner's aforesaid representation.

5. In the light of the aforesaid stand taken by the respondent, nothing further survives for adjudication. It is, however, directed that, no coercive action will be taken against the petitioner for a period of one week from the date a decision is taken on the petitioner's pending representation.

6. The petition alongwith the pending application is, accordingly, disposed of in the aforesaid terms."

4. Subsequent to the said order, the NHAI communicated its approval vide letter dated 8th February, 2022, for the force majeure claim of the Petitioner for the following two periods:

5. As per Clause 17(a) of the contract dated 13th October 2020 signed between the Petitioner and the NHAI which deals with performance security, the user fee collecting agency had furnished a security deposit towards performance security consisting of 2 components. The said clause of the contract reads as under:

"The user fee collecting agency has furnished a security deposit towards Performance Security consisting of (a) a crossed account payee demand draft/pay order, amounting to Rs.6,61,56,250/- (Rupees Six Crore Sixty One Lakh Fifty Six Thousand Two Hundred and Fifty Only) (an amount equal to one (1) month's agreed remittance) has been deposited by the bidder through RTGS/NEFT vide UTR No. BARBR52020101200906036 dated 12.10.2020 in favour of National Highways Authority of India). (an amount equal to one (1) month's agreed remittance) issued by a Scheduled Bank in India, drawn in favour of the Authority and payable at New Delhi and (b) a bank guarantee as per the format prescribed by National Highway Authority of India from any Nationalised Indian Bank/State Bank of India or its subsidiaries/IDBI/ICICI/Export Import Bank/Foreign Bank with counter guarantee from any Nationalized Indian Bank or State Bank of India or its subsidiaries/ any RBI approved Scheduled Commercial Bank having net worth of more than Rs.500 crore (Rupees