Work on the 135 km-long expressway, which is being constructed on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis, could be affected further if the dispute, pending with the Punjab and Haryana High Court, is not resolved.

The case was reserved for final orders on Monday by a division bench headed by the chief justice, after arguments were completed from both sides.

The expressway, when completed, will connect four of Haryana’s important industrial centres, intersect four of India’s busies national highways, besides helping decongest traffic in Delhi. The Rs 1,900 crore contract was awarded to a consortium, in which the UK-based Apollo Enterprises and Hyderabad-based Madhucon Projects are partners. The concession period for the project is 23 years and 9 months.

The expressway will provide high-speed connectivity to northern Haryana with its southern districts, such as Sonipat, Jhajjar, Gurgaon and Faridabad. Additionally, it will facilitate the flow of traffic from west and south India towards Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

Progress on the project was held up for nearly a month after Madhucon Projects moved the high court seeking a stay over construction on grounds that it had been cheated by the other two companies in the contract. The two other companies, Apollo Enterprises and D S Constructions, said they had already pooled in over Rs 500 crore and that Madhucon wanted its share to be increased.

Since the matter became sub judice, financial institutions refused to pool in and offer their financial assistance, as a result of which the project came to a halt.

A counsel for D S Constructions alleged that the entire delay could be attributed to Madhucon. “The only investments Madhucon have made till date are to spend money on litigation. The company is holding public money to ransom and is arm-twisting us. It wants us to make an amended agreement, which the consortium has already made and offered to Madhucon. But they are not accepting that as well,” the counsel said.