DAMAGES IN INDIAN CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS

The law of damages in construction contracts is the body of law that resolves these disputes. It draws on the foundational principles of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 - sections that have remained substantially unchanged since the Victorian era - but applies them to a contractual landscape of extraordinary complexity: lump-sum EPC contracts, FIDIC Yellow Book mega-projects, Government PWD works valued at thousands of crores, PPP concessions spanning decades, and subcontracting chains of four or five tiers. Layered on top are specialised statutory regimes - RERA, IBC, MSMED Act, Competition Act, the A&C Act in its successive iterations - each carving out its own territory within the broader landscape of construction law.

This Treatise is designed to serve the working legal practitioner - the Advocate appearing before an Arbitral Tribunal, the Briefing Counsel advising a Senior, the in-house Counsel of a PSU or infrastructure conglomerate, the judicial member of a statutory tribunal, and the officer of a regulatory authority called upon to adjudicate a construction-related claim. It does not merely state the law - it locates the law in its practical context, explains how judicial doctrine has evolved in response to the realities of construction practice, and provides, wherever possible, the exact statutory text and the precise judicial observations that a practitioner needs to cite and rely upon.

The Treatise covers all ten Parts of a comprehensive exposition of construction damages law: the constitutional and statutory foundations; the typology and formation of construction contracts; the general principles of damages; restitution and quantum meruit; tortious liability; international construction and cross-border issues including FEMA, currency, and investment treaty arbitration; interest, inflation, and the time value of money; arbitration of construction disputes; proof, quantification, and expert evidence; and special topics including Government contracting, RERA, insolvency, and tax. Each Part contains multiple Chapters, each Chapter contains detailed analysis supported by statutory provisions in full text, judicial observations quoted precisely, and commentary on the application of the law to practical construction scenarios.
This Treatise is a living document. The law of construction damages in India is developing rapidly - the Supreme Court continues to refine the test for patent illegality under Section 34 of the A&C Act; the courts are working out the implications of the 2018 Specific Relief Act amendment for infrastructure contracts; RERA jurisprudence is accumulating in States across the country; and the IBC is generating new questions about the treatment of construction contracts in insolvency. Practitioners are encouraged to verify citations against the most recent databases and to note developments after the Treatise's compilation date.