The Delhi High Court has set aside a series of orders by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) debarring multiple toll collection contractors, terminating some of their contracts and encashing their performance securities over allegations of using parallel software to siphon toll collections, holding that the impugned actions were not supported by sufficient material.
Justice Sachin Datta was hearing a batch of petitions challenging NHAI’s action, which was triggered by Uttar Pradesh STF investigation into an alleged toll fraud racket. NHAI had relied primarily on a press note issued by the STF, a confessional statement of one of the accused, and an alleged post-raid surge in cash collections to debar the contractors for one year and terminate certain ongoing contracts.
The High Court observed that none of the petitioners or their employees had been named as accused in the FIR, chargesheet or supplementary chargesheet. It further noted that no parallel software or other incriminating material had been recovered from the petitioners’ toll plazas, and that inspections conducted by NHAI itself after the raid had found no evidence of any unauthorised software.
Emphasising that blacklisting or debarment has severe civil consequences akin to civil death, the Court held that such action must be founded on objective satisfaction based on cogent material and cannot rest merely on a press note, an accused’s confessional statement or uncorroborated statistical inferences. The Court also observed that NHAI’s contractual framework itself envisaged continuous monitoring and surprise inspections of toll plazas, yet no evidence of wrongdoing had emerged through these mechanisms.
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Accordingly, the Court quashed the impugned debarment orders. However, the court clarified that NHAI would be at liberty to take appropriate action in future if credible evidence of misconduct is discovered in accordance with law.
