The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has not levied any amount as penalty from the project concessionaire and consultant following the NH66 collapse at Kooriyad in Malappuram, according to an RTI response received by Onmanorama. The inaction on levying penalty is in violation of the circular issued by the Union Ministry which mandates specific penal provisions in case of failure of structures.

The NHAI, Project Implementation Unit-1, Kochi, furnished the response nearly two months after the embankment of the highway caved in at Kooriyad. Passengers on board two cars had a miraculous escape on May 19, when the wall collapsed.

The incident sparked widespread outrage in Kerala and NHAI was slammed for not ensuring structural safety. The residents also came out in protest, saying that they had raised ecological concerns right at the onset of the project, which the company ignored. Following the backlash, NHAI resorted to disciplinary action. It suspended the concessionaire KNR Constructions, Hyderabad, from participating in future bids and issued a show-cause notice to levy a monetary penalty of ₹11.8 crore on KNR. The project manager of the concessionaire was also suspended.

It was also stated that KNR constructions will clear the debris and rectify the damage by constructing a new flyover at their cost, which is approximately ₹80 crore. In addition to this action, the Independent Engineer (Highway Engineering Consultant, Bhopal) was suspended from participating in future bids, and a show-cause notice to levy a penalty of ₹20 lakh was issued. Notices were issued to the design consultant and the safety consultant for a monetary penalty of ₹20 lakh. NHAI's Project Director (in-charge) was suspended, and the services of the site engineer were terminated as a penal action.

Onmanorama sought information from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) on the collapse/failure of highway projects in Kerala for the past three years. PIU-1, Kochi, has so far furnished the reply stating that only one incident at Kooriyad was reported. The reply said that no penalty was levied from the project concessionaire, although the NHAI statement showed that a show-cause notice was issued to collect an amount of ₹11.8 crore.

NHAI officials told Onmanorama that penalty was not levied since steps are underway for reconstruction at the cost of concessionaire. However, in June 2021, the MoRTH issued a communication to the NHAI, Chief Secretaries of all states and Principal Secretaries of Public Works Department on enforcement of quality assurance and quality control measures in construction of road and bridge works on National Highways and centrally-sponsored schemes. 

The circular lays down specific ways to initiate penal action against the concessionaire/contractor and the Authority's Independent Engineer/Supervision consultant in case of failure of structures/poor quality of services established after investigation. It says for major failure of structures/highway due to construction defect wherein no casualties are reported, the penal actions include rectification by contractor at their own cost or debarment up to 1 year and penalty of 5 per cent of contract value of failed defective work or 0.5 per cent of contract value of whole work (whichever is less). In case there are casualties, the circular cites a different clause to levy a penalty.

In Kooriyad, NHAI has reasoned that since the contractor undertakes construction at their own cost, no penalty was levied. This goes against the condition in the circular, which clearly says that in addition to reconstruction on own cost, a penalty at a mandated percentage shall be levied. The project covers a distance of 39.7 km at a cost of ₹2368 crore from Ramanattukara to the start of the Valanchery bypass of NH66 and has attained 99 per cent physical progress so far. Going by the total project cost, levying 5 per cent would entail payment of ₹118.4 crore.

According to the NHAI, prima facie, the incident occurred due to the negligence of the concessionaire to confirm the ground conditions and improve ground bearing capacity prior to the commencement of work. A preliminary assessment by experts indicated that the failure of the embankment was likely caused by the inability of the foundation soils to support the high embankment loads.

While two expert committees were constituted by the MoRTH to study and assess the damage, the final reports have not been submitted, NHAI mentioned in the RTI reply.