(PIB)
Keeping its commitment to provide speedy resolution of disputes with contractors/concessionaires through conciliation, NHAI has settled 60 cases for Rs. 4,076 crore against the claimed amount of Rs. 14,590 crore during FY 2021-22. The authority resolved these cases with a settlement amount that was about 28 percent of the total claimed amount. Last year, NHAI settled 60 cases for Rs. 5,313 crore against the claimed amount of Rs. 14,207 crore. In its endeavor for faster settlement of claims through conciliation and reduce liabilities thereby, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has rigorously started the process of conciliation by constituting three Conciliation Committees of Independent Experts (CCIE) of three members each. These Conciliation Committees are being headed by retired officials from the judiciary, senior experts from public administration, finance and from private sector.
Till date, out of 251 cases that have been referred to CCIE (Conciliation Committees of Independent Experts), out of which 155 cases of claims by contractors and concessionaires worth Rs. 38,747 crores have been successfully settled for an amount of Rs. 13,067 crore.
- addition to the CCIE, NHAI has setup Dispute Resolution Board (DRB) which helps in getting firsthand information on site activities and resolving the dispute before it escalates to arbitration/court. Under this mechanism, a three-member board is constituted who visit the project site as and when required or at least six times in a year. So far, 97 DRBs have been constituted to help solve disputes and mitigate issues pertaining to different projects.
While CCIE have led to a significant increase in the number of settlement cases, DRBs help in resolving the disputes at an early stage or in giving factual position of site which makes job of conciliation/ arbitration/ court easy. These measures have proved to be a win-win situation for both NHAI and its concessionaires/ contractors/ consultants. Besides reducing legal hassles, these have helped in saving legal expenses and resulted in faster execution of the projects.
