NATIONAL HIGHWAY AUTHORITY (NHA) vs SARDAR MUHAMMAD ASHRAF D — 2024 CLD 220 ISLAMABAD

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NATIONAL HIGHWAY AUTHORITY (NHA) VS SARDAR MUHAMMAD ASHRAF D. BALOCH (PRIVATE) LIMITED Ss. 30, 33 & 39---arbitration---Objections against award---Legal advice, non-compliance of---appellant/National Highway authority was aggrieved of dismissal of its objections by Trial Court against award which was made rule of the Court---Validity---appellant/authority had legal experts rendering opinions and memoranda on probability of success of a challenge to a claim or to an award---Members of appellant/authority should have recorded in their minutes of meetings as to why they chose to differ from legal advice if it recommended accepting the award without further contest---Such accountability would become all the more important where award had stipulated ongoing late payment charges that kept on accumulating until those were paid---appellant/authority had made matters worse for itself by frivolous contests to the awards for years to come---If appellant/ authority had paid the award on time, it would not have incurred 3% above the discount rate of State Bank of Pakistan accumulating to a substantial sum---There was no accountability of appellant/authority on such score, which had caused needless misery for the contractors, apart from being a drain on appellant's/authority's finances---In any private organization, Board of Directors could have been fired for ignoring legal advice against contest to an award if such advice was given, and not obtaining such advice was itself a negligent act, for the directors were meant to act on expert legal advice and not pretend to be legal experts themselves where their ignorance could translate into tens of millions of rupees of public money being paid out as late payment charges---Such act of appellant/authority had burdened Courts with disputes that should never have reached the Courts in the first place---High Court declined to interfere in order of Trial Court making award rule of the Court and imposed costs upon appellant/authority---appeal was dismissed, in circumstances.

NATIONAL HIGHWAY AUTHORITY (NHA) vs SARDAR MUHAMMAD ASHRAF D — 2024 CLD 220 ISLAMABAD

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