Liquidated damages for delay in a publicinterest infrastructure...

Liquidated damages for delay in a publicinterest infrastructure project attract a publicutility exception requiring the breaching party to prove absence of loss; consequence: reasonable compensation under the contract clause must be allowed. A Section 34 modification that applied the contract Clause to increase reasonable compensation was a valid exercise confined to jurisdictional limits; outcome: that modification was upheld. The appellate forum exceeded its scope by recalculating compensation rather than testing for jurisdictional error or perversity; consequence: the Division Bench's modification was set aside and the Single Judge's award restored, with one appeal allowed and the other dismissed.