 "Delhi Metro")
The Delhi High Court has granted four weeks to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to make the outstanding payment of an arbitral award passed in favour of the Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (DAMEPL).
The court said it will be "constrained" to call for appearance of the DMRC managing director if the transporter failed to comply.
"I deem it appropriate to direct that the balance payment in terms of the award shall be made within a period of four weeks. It is made clear that if the amount is not paid within four weeks, the court shall be constrained to call the appearance of the managing director of the DMRC before this court," Justice V Kameswar Rao said.
The court listed the matter for further hearing on October 10.
The DAMEPL moved the high court stating that the DMRC paid it only Rs 166.44 crore on March 14 and sought directions for balance payment of Rs 4,427.41 crore. It said interest will apply till the date of actual payment by the DMRC.
The court was informed that the SLP filed by the DMRC before the Supreme Court challenging the March 10 order has been dismissed and the curative petition has not been listed yet.
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Senior advocate Parag Tripathi, appearing for the DMRC, sought four weeks' time to pay the balance amount in terms of the award which has attained finality.
Senior advocate Harish Salve, representing the DAMEPL, submitted that no further time should be granted as the March 10, 2022 order for making the payment was not adhered to.
He added that even further time granted till August 5 was not adhered to and that the DMRC's prayer for grant of more time is without any justification.
On March 10, the high court had directed the DMRC to pay over Rs 4,600 crore of arbitral award along with interest to the DAMEPL in two equal installments within two months. The first and second installments were to be paid on or before April 30, 2022 and May 31, 2022, respectively.
The March 10 judgement had come on the DAMEPL's execution petition filed against the DMRC concerning an arbitral award of over Rs 4,600 crore passed in its favour on May 11, 2017.
The DMRC had earlier told the court that the central government has not granted sanction for diversion of funds in terms of their communications of April 13 and April 27, 2022 and that in terms of the liberty granted for raising loans, it has called for quotations / proposals for raising Capex loan from various banks for payment of the amount due and payable to DAMEPL.
The DMRC had said it expected to process the bids of the banks by July 10 and the signing of loan documents by August 15.
The counsel for the DAMEPL had urged the court that the DMRC shall not be granted any further time and be directed to immediately make full payment towards the balance amount, Rs 4,451.63 crore as on May 31, 2022, along with further interest up to the date of actual payment.
He had said the bank accounts and amounts lying in the credit of DMRC's accounts along with fixed deposits, other financial investments and daily revenue be attached towards satisfaction of the decretal amount.
The high court had earlier noted that during pendency of these proceedings, the judgment debtor (DMRC) had made payment of Rs 1,678.42 crores.
An arbitral tribunal in its May 2017 award had ruled in favour of the DAMEPL, which had pulled out from running the Airport Express metro line over safety issues, and accepted its claim that the running of operations on the line was not viable due to structural defects in the viaduct through which the train would run.
The arbitral award pertained to a concession agreement between the two entities, which was signed 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, 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.
DAMEPL had borrowed from 11 banks -- Axis Bank, UCO Bank, Punjab, and Sind Bank, Andhra Bank, Central Bank of India, Dena Bank, Allahabad Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of India, IIFC UK, and Canara Bank London -- to carry out operations on the line.
The Airport Express line was commissioned on February 23, 2011, after an investment of over Rs 2,885 crore, funded by the DAMEPL's promoters' fund, banks, and financial institutions.
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