NHAI banks on retired judges on arbitration body to lift dispute burden

State-run infrastructure behemoth National Highways Authority of India Ltd (NHAI) appears to have hit upon a new way to clear its legal disputes as it struggles to manage a massive debt pile-up of ₹2.76 trillion.

- Manas Pimpalkhare & Subhash Narayan

State-run infrastructure behemoth National Highways Authority of India Ltd (NHAI) appears to have hit upon a new way to clear its legal disputes as it struggles to manage a massive debt pile-up of ₹2.76 trillion. NHAI's previous legal strategy to fast-track contractual disputes by using more arbitration has fallen flat, stakeholders say, with the result that pending arbitration claims at the end of FY23 have ballooned to over ₹1.16 trillion.

Now, it has set its eyes on the Society for Affordable Redressal of Disputes (Sarod), a body it created 12 years ago for speedy arbitration in the roadways sector.

Gunita Pahwa, joint managing partner at S&A Law Offices, a Gurugram-based law firm, told