Your works contract may not let you go straight to arbitration. NHAI, CPWD-pattern and some defence contracts send a dispute to a dispute resolution board (DRB) or committee before arbitration, and the Manual for Procurement of Works 2022 says it “shall, in the first place, be referred” there. On NHAI’s newer EPC and HAM agreements the board’s decision binds both sides until a tribunal revises it. Courts have let contractors skip the board where the employer never formed it or refused the reference.

₹8.93 crore. That is how much was deducted as delay damages from two bills of the Kollam bypass six-laning concessionaire in 2025, after the Independent Engineer cut a 178-day extension to zero. The contractor took it to the project’s dispute resolution board, which on 4 October 2025 granted 465 days’ extension and ordered the damages released with interest. Ten days later the Delhi High Court told NHAI to give effect to that decision until an arbitral tribunal rules.

No arbitrator had been appointed. The board did the work in under four months from the notice of dispute.

What a dispute resolution board is, and who sits on it

A DRB is a panel named in the contract to decide disputes, usually while work is still going on. It is not an arbitral tribunal. The Manual for Procurement of Works 2022, issued by the Department of Expenditure, sets the central government pattern:

Para What it says
6.8.1 Try mutual consultation first; the bidding document must specify the method, which may be a DRB
6.8.2 Any dispute, including disagreement with the Engineer’s certificate or valuation, “shall, in the first place, be referred to the Dispute Resolution Board”
6.8.3 The Works Committee may act as the DRB and may co-opt any other officer
7.6.6(v) A DRB monitors execution and is “a conciliation forum to resolve disputes amicably”

Note what 6.8.3 means. Under para 3.1.4(v), a Works Committee is made up of the department’s administrative and finance representatives and a technical officer, so on a central ministry job the board can be the employer’s own people. On NHAI contracts the DRB is a separate board set up under the agreement. FIDIC’s international forms call the same idea a dispute adjudication board.

Where the dispute resolution board sits in NHAI contracts

NHAI’s newer agreements, quoted in Delhi High Court orders from 2024 to 2026, run a four-step ladder (Article 26 of the EPC agreements quoted; the HAM concession in the Kollam case uses Article 38):

Step What happens
1. Engineer mediates Either party may ask the Authority’s Engineer (Independent Engineer on HAM) to mediate
2. DRB Failing mediation, or without it, either party may refer the dispute to the DRB under Schedule-S; its decision binds both parties “unless and until” a conciliation or arbitral tribunal revises it
3. Conciliation Before arbitration, the parties agree to explore conciliation by NHAI’s Conciliation Committees of Independent Experts
4. Arbitration Under the rules of the Society for Affordable Redressal of Disputes (SAROD) in the agreements quoted

The court orders do not reproduce Schedule-S, so read yours for how members are chosen and the time limits. Older contracts differ: a 2017 MoRTH EPC agreement quoted in Rani Constructions v Union of India (22 March 2024) had no DRB, only Engineer conciliation and a meeting of the two chairmen within 7 business days. One NHIDCL EPC agreement of June 2020, quoted in Nirmal Buildinfra v NHIDCL (20 November 2024), allows no arbitration for a claim up to ₹50 lakh; the Authority’s Engineer’s reasoned decision binds both parties. For a small claim, that decision is the whole remedy.

CPWD, MES and state contracts use their own versions

CPWD’s General Conditions of Contract 2014 (clause 25) use a Dispute Redressal Committee (DRC), named in Schedule F. Later editions may differ; the 2014 ladder runs:

Stage (CPWD GCC 2014, clause 25) You must act within Decision due within
Request to Superintending Engineer 15 days 1 month
Appeal to Chief Engineer 15 days 30 days
Appeal to DRC 30 days 90 days
Notice for arbitration 30 days of the DRC decision Not applicable

Each party must exhaust this ladder before arbitration, and if you miss the 30-day notice, the DRC decision becomes final. Typical claims on it are rates, variation orders, a disputed price escalation clause or liquidated damages.

Military Engineer Services contracts on the IAFW-2249 conditions provide for a DRB (condition 71 in the Pardeep Electricals cases), and there the employer had to constitute it within one month. A Maharashtra Maritime Board contract quoted by the Bombay High Court on 27 April 2026 used a single Dispute Review Expert: refer the Engineer’s decision within 14 days, decision in 28 days, the expert’s daily fee split equally, and the decision final unless referred to arbitration within the next 28 days.

Even a quick board leaves a bill unpaid for weeks, so keep the next job lined up: browse live tender and project opportunities.

Is a dispute resolution board decision binding?

Read the clause, because there are three answers.

On NHAI’s newer agreements, yes, until revised, and the Delhi High Court has enforced it. In the Kollam case (Kollam Highways v NHAI, 14 October 2025) the Delhi High Court called the DRB “an independent body”. In Lakshmi Infrastructure v NHAI (21 August 2024), with the DRB already hearing the dispute, the court held NHAI “prima facie not justified in taking precipitate action” by issuing a notice of intention to terminate.

Under CPWD-style and Dispute Review Expert clauses, the decision binds you if you stay silent past the deadline. That is the real trap.

Under older FIDIC-based NHAI contracts, the board only recommended. In Gammon India v NHAI (2 July 2019), where NHAI had rejected a DRB recommendation, the Delhi High Court warned the mechanism “would be set at naught” if every recommendation and award is challenged.

Can you skip the board and go straight to arbitration?

Not safely while the board exists and the clause makes it the first step. The cases below share one fact: the employer failed first.

In Pardeep Electricals v Union of India (Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court, 21 February 2023), the contractor’s January 2022 request for a DRB reference was refused, and the board was notified only after the arbitration petition was filed. The court held the contractor “cannot be relegated back” to the DRB and appointed an arbitrator. In a second Pardeep case decided on 8 November 2024, the court held that once the employer failed to constitute and intimate the DRB, “there is no alternative remedy for adjudication of the dispute, but, for the arbitration.”

Conciliation steps get lighter treatment. In Oasis Projects v NHIDCL (7 February 2023), the Delhi High Court held that conciliation by NHIDCL’s expert committee could not be held mandatory, citing section 77 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, which lets a party start arbitration even during conciliation to preserve its rights.

So write to the employer asking for the reference, cite the clause, and keep proof of delivery. If they refuse or never form the board, that letter is your evidence when you ask a court for an arbitrator.

Dispute resolution board vs arbitration: time, cost, and whether it binds

Route Time Binding? Cost
NHAI DRB (newer EPC/HAM) Per Schedule-S; Kollam: under 4 months Yes, until revised Not specified
CPWD DRC (GCC 2014) 90 days from appeal Final if no arbitration notice within 30 days Not specified
Dispute Review Expert (MMB contract) 28 days Final if not referred within 28 days Daily fee split equally
Conciliation (MPW para 6.9) Starts only if the other side accepts Only once both sign a settlement Not specified
Arbitration (Act, ss. 23(4) and 29A) 6 months pleadings, 12 months to award, plus 6 by consent Yes, subject to court challenge Arbitrators’ fees and counsel

None of the clauses read sets a board fee, so there is no honest cost figure. The saving is time: weeks or months at the board, against a statutory window of up to 18 months for an arbitration before any extension, with arbitrators’ fees and counsel on top. The Manual itself says, at para 6.10.1, that litigation has “adverse implications on the timelines and overall cost of the project”. If the board does not settle it, the next step is arbitration; the points to check are in arbitration in construction contracts.

If you are a sub-contractor with machines on the job

If you have two excavators on a highway package on hire to the main contractor, you are not a party to the NHAI agreement. Its DRB will not hear your claim. Your remedy sits in your own subcontractor agreement, so ask for a short first step there: a named person who decides within a fixed number of days.

The bottom line

A dispute resolution board is the step before arbitration on many NHAI, CPWD-pattern and defence works contracts, and on newer NHAI agreements its decision binds until a tribunal changes it. Use it, meet its deadlines and put every request in writing. Go around it only when the employer has not formed the board or has refused your reference.

While a claim works its way through, keep your fleet earning. Find the next job in tender and project opportunities, and if a held-up bill is squeezing cash for your next machine, compare equipment finance options.

Rates, schemes, specifications and prices change — confirm current terms with the OEM, dealer, bank or insurer before deciding. Dispute clauses differ by employer, contract form and edition; read the dispute resolution clause and schedules in your own agreement, note every deadline, and take legal advice before you refer a dispute or skip a step.