The Arbitration Act facilitates a less rigorous, technical, and formal dispute resolution mechanism, and disputes between parties with an arbitration clause are considered arbitrable.

ORDER

Chandra Dhari Singh, J. (Oral)

1. The instant petition under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter "the Arbitration Act") has been filed on behalf of the petitioner seeking the following reliefs:

"(i) Restrain the Respondent by way of an order and injunction, from suspending the rights of the petitioner as the concessionaire including giving effect to Notice for Suspension issued by the Respondent on 14.02.2923 and any actions consequential or incidental thereto;

(ii) Pass ad interim and interim ex parte reliefs in terms of prayer above;

(iii) Order costs of the Petition to be borne by the Respondent; and

(iv) Pass such further and other reliefs as a nature and circumstances of the case may require."

2. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner submitted that the petitioner is a company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956, a Special Purpose Vehicle and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure Limited. The respondent is the National Highway Authority of India (hereinafter "NHAI"), a Government enterprise involved with maintenance of national highways across the country.

3. It is submitted that the parties entered into a Concession Agreement dated 10th March, 2010 for undertaking the project for Six Laning of Pune - Satara Section of NH-4from 725.00 kms to 863.350 kms (length - 140.350 kms) in the State of Maharashtra to be executed as EOT (Toll) on DEPOT Pattern- under NHDP Phase V (Package No. NHDP- V/MC-II/14) (hereinafter "the Project").

4. It is submitted that during the course of the work, the petitioner encountered delays in the project timeline from the appointed date, which were not attributable to the petitioner, whereupon it made several representations/applications to NHAI seeking extension of the time period. These reasons include delays on account of handing over of encumbrance free vacant access of ROW by NHAI, delay in issuance of applicable permit relating to environmental protection and conservation of the site, delay in permission for tree cutting, delay in the mobilization of IE, delay in publication of encroachment notices, delay in acquisition of additional land requirement and the occurrence of Force Majeure event being the COVID- 19 pandemic.

5. It is submitted that despite the above circumstances, the Notice of intent to terminate the Concession Agreement was furnished by the respondent on 21st May 2020 granting the petitioner 15 days' time to make a representation. Thereafter, communications were exchanged between the parties whereby the petitioner expressed its readiness and willingness to complete the Project. However, the respondent suspended the rights of the petitioner as a Concessionaire under the Concession Agreement by way of issuance of a Suspension Notice dated 14th February 2023, which came to be withdrawn by the letter dated 17th February 2023.

6. It is submitted that the issuance of Notice of Suspension was in gross violation of Clause 36.1 and Clause 37.1 of the Concessionaire Agreement since the provision stipulates that only in the case of default on the part of the Concessionaire, its rights may be suspended by the respondent. The clauses further stipulate that a default would accrue only in the event of default specified in the said Clause occurs and the Concessionaire fails to cure the default within the cure period set forth in the said clause or where no Cure period is specified, within a Cure period of 60 days, unless default has occurred as a result of any breach of this Concession Agreement by the Authority or due to Force Majeure. It is submitted that without giving the Cure period of 60 days, and the expiry thereto, no default can be attributed to the Concessionaire under the Agreement.

7. The learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that there is no occurrence of Concessionaire Default in the instant case and thus, issuance of Notice for Suspension is mala fide, illegal and unwarranted. Moreover, the