DAMEPL in HC to enforce arbitral award against DMRC

Reliance Infrastructure's (Rinfra) subsidiary DAMEPL, which was operating the Delhi Metro's Airport Express line here, moved the Delhi High Court today, seeking the execution of the arbitration award of Rs 5,200 crore, including interest of over Rs 2,000 crore, it had won against the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

Advocate Mahesh Aggarwal confirmed that the Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (DAMEPL) had filed a petition, seeking the execution of the arbitration award the company had won against DMRC.

The petition was expected to come up for hearing this week, he said.

The development comes after the high court, on March 6, directed DMRC to pay the arbitral award to DAMEPL within four weeks.

The court had dismissed DMRC's plea against the Arbitral Tribunal's May, 2017 order, asking it to make payments to DAMEPL, in the case related to the Airport Express premium corridor.

The court had allowed a separate plea of DAMEPL, the former concessionaire of the Airport Express line, for an early payment of 75 per cent of the arbitral award in its favour.

According to the DAMEPL's earlier plea, the concession agreement was signed by the two parties on August 25, 2008. Under the agreement, DMRC was to carry out the civil works, excluding at the depot, and the balance, including the project system works, were to be executed by DAMEPL.

The Airport Express line was commissioned on February 23, 2011 after an investment of Rs 2,885 crore, funded by the DAMEPL's promoters' fund, banks and financial institutions.

DAMEPL had said it had terminated the concession agreement as DMRC had not cured certain defects in the Airport Express line within 90 days of a notice issued by it.

It had also said the agreement had come to effect from January 1, 2013 and the project was handed over to DMRC on June 30, 2013. Till the handing over of the project, DAMEPL had operated the line as a deemed agent of DMRC, it had said.

The arbitration was entered into in August, 2013 after efforts to amicably resolve the issue did not yield any result.

DAMEPL is a joint venture of Rinfra and a Spanish construction company -- Construcciones Y Auxiliar De Ferrocarriles -- with a shareholding of 95 and five per cent respectively.