More Stories

Informist, Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Delhi High Court Tuesday asked the National Highways Authority of India to introduce an automated monitoring system to enable real-time tracking of toll collections and early identification of "windfall gain". NHAI must expeditiously implement a robust monitoring mechanism to ensure transparency, timely decision-making and protection of public revenue, the court said.

 

Last year, NHAI had introduced a "windfall gain" clause that provided for termination of the tolling contract where toll collection was more than 40% of the remittance in the past 15 days. NHAI had introduced this clause to prevent excessive profits for tolling agencies.

 

The high court upheld the premature termination of Md. Karimunnisa's contract to collect user fees at Pawangaon Fee Plaza in Maharashtra. The court rejected Karimunnisa's plea challenging NHAI's decision to invoke the "windfall gain" clause to terminate the contract. NHAI acted with the objective of protecting public revenue and ensuring efficient management of toll operations, the court said. 

 

However, the court said that the circumstances giving rise to the alleged "windfall gain" were not acted upon with promptitude by NHAI. Delay in the timely assessment and invocation of contractual safeguards, particularly in contracts involving the collection of public revenue, can result in avoidable loss to the public exchequer, the court said. 

 

The court said there was a significant delay in invoking the "windfall gain" clause in the case, resulting in a loss of approximately INR 750,000 per day to NHAI and the public exchequer. The court noted that a senior officer has already been issued a show-cause notice by NHAI.

 

The court asked NHAI to place on record the decision taken pursuant to the show-cause notice. The disciplinary proceedings against the concerned officials should, as far as practicable, be concluded within six months, the court said.

 

Last year, Karimunnisa was declared a successful bidder for the collection of user fees at the Pawangaon Fee Plaza. However, the highways authority terminated the contract prematurely, saying that the toll collection substantially exceeded the 40% benchmark contemplated under the "windfall gain" clause.  

 

Challenging the termination, Karimunnisa argued that NHAI's action was arbitrary, predetermined, and contrary to the contractual stipulations, and that the "windfall gain" clause could not have been invoked because the Pawangaon Fee Plaza was not a new user-fee plaza.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Saji George Titus

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.