India News | Appeal Filed Before SC Against Order to Help DMRC Pay Dues to DAMEPL, HC Told

New Delhi, Mar 29 (PTI) The Delhi High Court was informed on Wednesday that the Centre and the city government have filed appeals before the Supreme Court against its direction to them to attend to the payment of dues to Reliance Infrastructure-owned Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt Ltd (DAMEPL) by DMRC pursuant to a 2017 arbitral award.

Justice Yashwant Varma was hearing a review petition by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, which urged the Delhi High Court to re-consider its order.

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The counsel appearing for the parties informed the judge that the top court is likely to hear the challenge on April 10.

The high court also clarified that its earlier direction on attachment of DMRC funds in case of non-compliance will not come in the way of payment of salaries to employees as well as payment towards operation and maintenance expenses.

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On March 17, the high court directed the Centre and the city government to attend to DMRC's request for extension of sovereign guarantees or subordinate debt to enable it to make payment of dues of an arbitral award passed in favour of DAMEPL. It said the sovereign governments cannot shirk their liability to abide by binding judgements and decrees.

It also ordered that in case of a failure on the part of parties to proceed in terms of the directions, the entire amount under “Total DMRC Funds, Total Project Funds and Total Other Funds” shall be attached.

The high court's verdict had come on an execution petition filed by DAMEPL against DMRC over payment of dues of an arbitral award passed in its favour.

DMRC sought review of the order on the ground that attachment of its statutory expenses will result in immediate stoppage of the entire metro network in the national capital.

In its judgement, the high court had said the decision on sovereign guarantees and subordinate debt has to be taken by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the Delhi government within two weeks and if the permission is accorded to the DMRC, it would deposit the entire amount payable under the award along with up-to-date interest within a period of one month.

An arbitral tribunal in May 2017 ruled in favour of DAMEPL, which had pulled out of running the Airport Express metro line over safety issues, and accepted its claim that running the operations on the line was not viable due to structural defects in the viaduct through which the train would pass.

In February this year, the court had noted that the total amount of the award with interest till February 14, 2022 was Rs 8,009.38 crore. Of this, a sum of Rs 1,678.42 crore has been paid by DMRC and an amount of Rs 6,330.96 crore is still due.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)