The four-laning of National Highway-21 had entered into troubled waters following differences between NHAI and Ammunition Depot of the Indian Army at Dappar.

The committee has been constituted on the directions of the Supreme Court. The case had come up for hearing today before a division bench of the Punjab and Haryana high Court, which directed that the dispute between the two parties be resolved expeditiously. It is pertinent to mention here that the committee was constituted after the Attorney General of India refused to interfere in the case owing to personal reasons.

While the Army protested against the toll plaza within restricted area around the depot, the NHAI insisted on the construction of the plaza where it was planned. In a notification issued in 2004, the Ministry of Defence had said that no construction would be allowed within a distance of 1,097.28 metres (1,200 yards) of the Dappar Ammunition depot.

Following directions of the court, Deputy Commissioner, SAS Nagar, HIS Grewal had on December 28 2007, undertaken the measurement of distance between the toll plaza and the depot and the report was submitted to the court.

The Punjab government, which is also a party in the case, had taken a stand in the favour of the NHAI. The Punjab government had pointed out that the NHAI had already spent crores on their work which was equally important.

The fact that the toll plaza was being planned near the ammunition depot was brought to the notice of the NHAI more than a year ago but the authority did not seek any clearance from the depot till a week ago when it was immediately rejected.