 "DMRC, Delhi metro")
Reliance Infra moved the Supreme Court on Friday against Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), seeking payment of Rs 4,500 crore of arbitral award dues.
The court issued a notice to DMRC in this regard and sought a reply by December 12.
In the same matter, the Delhi High Court had also granted DMRC time till December 12 to come up with a plan to pay the outstanding amount of an arbitral award favouring Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt Ltd (DAMEPL).
DAMEPL is a Reliance infrastructure arm.
On September 9, 2021, the Supreme Court upheld DAMEPL’s 2017 arbitration award of roughly Rs 4,500 crore, which was enforceable against the DMRC. A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai said the hearing on the execution application cannot be postponed any longer because it is injurious to both parties' interests.
After that, the matter was heard by the Delhi High Court (HC).
Reliance Infra claimed that despite the SC upholding the arbitral award, the DMRC had failed to pay the dues. The SC has agreed to hear this plea.
DMRC had filed an affidavit on November 17 before the HC stating that the Delhi government will consider a decision on paying half the awarded sums by placing the matter before the Cabinet, which may take some time.
The affidavit also stated, “The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs submitted that the request of DMRC to bear 50 per cent of the total Arbitration Award will be examined by the Government of India in entirety for taking an informed decision, being an equity shareholder of DMRC.”
Senior counsel for DAMEPL, Jaideep Gupta, said in the HC hearing on November 18 that the affidavit in an open-ended manner leaves it to the court to take an appropriate decision “after the outcome of the aforesaid consideration/examination and approval of the request of DMRC by both the equity partners of DMRC, that is, the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and Government of NCT of Delhi is placed before this Hon'ble Court”.
The entire arbitral award of Rs 4,500 crore was to be paid to DAMEPL by October 4, failing which, the court said in its earlier hearing that it would summon the DMRC MD.
Gupta stressed that DMRC’s affidavit amounts to taking several steps back, as the Court had already ordered it on March 10, June 20, and September 6 to pay the entire outstanding within the specified period, which DMRC had failed to do each time. “Hence, the Court should now call for the presence of the MD of DMRC to give an undertaking to pay immediately,” he told the court today.
Responding to this, Attorney General for India, R Venkataramani, representing DMRC, asked Justice V Kameswar Rao why the MD needed to be present if he was appearing in the case.
He requested the court to adjourn the matter to December 12 so that the Delhi government’s decision would be known and the Union of India would also take a view on the matter by such date. “The Delhi MCD elections are here. We need more time,” he said. The court complied with his request.
Earlier in March 2022, the Delhi High court, after hearing the execution plea of DAMEPL, passed an order on 10 March 2022, directing DMRC to pay the entire amount in two equal installments by 30 April and 31 May 2022. But DMRC asked for an extension to pay the amount.
DAMEPL again approached the Delhi HC to enforce the order dated 10 March. The court then passed an order on 20 June directing DMRC to make the full payment by 5 August 2022. DMRC had again asked for an extension.
DMRC owed close to Rs 7,100 crore, of which it has already paid Rs 2,600 crore as of September 6. It now owes an outstanding amount of Rs 4,500 crore to DAMEPL.
