Supreme Court defers execution proceedings by Reliance Infra against DMRC

The Supreme Court on Monday deferred the execution proceedings by Reliance Infrastructure arm Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited against Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to recover Rs 4,800 crore arbitral award dues.

The bench led by Chief Justice of India(CJI) DY Chandrachud said a five judge bench will be constituted to hear the curative petition filed by DMRC against the apex court’s 2021 order telling it to pay DAMEPL the arbitral dues. 

The execution proceedings before the Delhi High Court shall stand deferred until the disposal of the curative petition, the court said. 

DMRC had moved a curative petition asking the apex court to reconsider its 2021 order upholding the arbitral award in Reliance Infra's favour. 

The Union and the Delhi government had moved the apex court challenging the Delhi High Court's March 2023 order directing them to take cognisance of the DMRC request for extending sovereign guarantees or subordinate debt to help clear the arbitral award in favour of DAMEPL. The HC order was in an execution petition filed by DAMEPL against DMRC over the payment of these dues.

DMRC and DAMEPL have been at odds ever since the latter pulled out of the Delhi Metro Airport Line operations due to safety issues arising from structural defects. An arbitral court ruled in favour of the RInfra firm in 2017, asking DMRC to pay the arbitral award. The order was later upheld by the Supreme Court.

Reliance Infra had moved the Supreme Court (SC) on December 2, 2022, against DMRC, seeking payment of Rs 4,500 crore of dues from the total arbitral award(Rs 7,200 crore) to Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt Ltd (DAMEPL). On December 14, last year, the SC gave DMRC three months to pay dues and sent the matter back to Delhi High Court for disposal.