NHAI mulls legal action to buy back Gurgaon project
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to take legal recourse to buy back the controversial Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway project from the concessionaire, which has been accused of “criminal conspiracy” and “breach of trust” for allegedly siphoning off `24 crore in the last one year from toll collections.
The NHAI is exploring legal options after getting a go-ahead from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways last week. In a letter from the Ministry, NHAI was advised to look at legal options as per agreement to “buy back” the project from the concessionaire, Delhi-Gurgaon Super Connectivity limited (DGSCl).
The NHAI is already in a legal battle with the concessionaire since 2011 for violation of the contract. Although an MoU was signed last year between the NHAI, lender IDFC, and developer DGSCl, NHAI issued a show-cause notice to the developer in March this year for not depositing the entire toll collected in the escrow account. NHAI also blamed it for not adhering to the MoU. DGSCl was accused of not promoting electronic tolling and monthly passes for local commuters.
NHAI chairman RP Singh had asked the Ministry to either buy back the expressway or hand it over to the State Government.
“It is now for NHAI to pursue the matter through the legal process as buying back is the first step before other options can be examined,” said a letter sent by Vijay Chhibber, Secretary, Roads Ministry, last Thursday.
“The Haryana Government has not furthered its earlier plan of buying out the project probably because it must have found taking over the project by termination of contract under provision of force majeure — unavoidable accident — expensive. Buying back the project, as per the initial contract, will be the best option for NHAI,” said an official from the Ministry.
NHAI has also complained to the Economic Offences Wing against DGSCl, after a Ministry-funded KPMG consultancy study in July found that the company had been underreporting at least 79,000 passenger car units daily, amounting to a loss of `25 crore in 2012-13.
However, DGSCl has refuted all charges. “It appears that KPMG has not done any traffic count study but has only presented the figures provided to them by a third party vendor,” said DGSCl.