#consultancy agreement

Delhi HC stayed NHAI's debarment of a joint-venture independent engineer because the authority failed to issue the graded warnings required by the contract’s TOR, and a policy circular cannot override the agreement. The ruling obliges NHAI to follow the step-wise warning mechanism in any future debarment, safeguarding consultants from arbitrary exclusion.

The Himachal Pradesh High Court ruled that contractual termination clauses permitting termination 'without cause' do not override explicit notice requirements in the agreement. The ruling reinforces that procedural compliance remains binding, protecting consultants and service providers from abrupt contract withdrawals without prior notice.