New Delhi, Oct 10 (PTI) The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) Monday submitted before the Delhi High Court it has requested the Centre and the Delhi government for funds for payment of the balance arbitral award to the Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (DAMEPL).

The DMRC said, if any adverse orders are passed against it at this point of time, millions of commuters will be simply told they cannot use Delhi Metro.

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The high court was hearing an application of DAMEPL, which said the DMRC has paid it only Rs 166.44 crore on March 14, and sought direction to it for payment of Rs 4427.41 crore by attachment of its bank accounts and fixed deposits. DAMEPL said the interest continues to apply till the date of actual payment by the DMRC.

“If any of the prayers as prayed for by the Decree Holder (DAMEPL) are granted by this court, at this juncture, the operations of the DMRC would come to complete standstill, which would be prejudicial to the public interest, considering that approximately 48 lakh journeys take place daily on the Metro system maintained by DMRC in the NCR.

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“DMRC has already tendered an amount of approximately Rs 2,600 crore to the Decree Holder and is expecting funds infusion from its shareholders so as to satisfy the payment of remaining amount of the Arbitral Award,” the DMRC said in an additional affidavit filed in the high court.

Attorney General R Venkataramani, appearing for the DMRC, said though it is important to comply with the decree for payment of award to Reliance Infrastructure-owned DAMEPL, equally important are the concerns of Delhi Metro.

He submitted since the equity partners are applying their mind to the issue, it will be in the fitness of things that no adverse order touching upon the maintenance and operations of the Delhi Metro is passed by the high court.

The law officer sought two weeks to place before the court the modalities regarding the payment to be made to DAMEPL.

Justice V Kameswar Rao said, “Attorney General of India states that the matter be deferred by two weeks to ensure the judgment debtor (DMRC) to place before the court the modalities for working of the payment to the decree holder in terms of the award. List on October 31.”

During the hearing, the Attorney General said, “Having regard to the gravity of the situation, namely that anything that is done with regard to the activities and operations of the Delhi Metro will have serious consequences for its current operations, millions of commuters will simply be told you can't use Delhi metro if any adverse order is passed against Delhi Metro at this point of time."

The DMRC, in its affidavit, said after considering the bids received by it from various banks, it was considered by the Board of Directors in the meeting on September 21 that the company is reeling under financial crisis and, if it pursues raising any loan, it will not be able to serve the interest and loan repayment and may fall into a financial trap.

“The Board discussed the matter in detail and decided that the fit course of action would be for the company to request both the stakeholders/shareholder of the company to infuse funds in equal proportion, so that the company continues to provide its current world class services to its commuters,” it said.

It added that DMRC wrote a letter on September 9 to the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and also the Delhi government for infusion of funds to enable it to pay off the outstanding amount due under the May 2017 Arbitral Award.

“It is expected that both the governments will respond in terms of their respective liabilities under the Metro Policy, 2017. Consequently, any further directions in regard to the execution of the award will have to necessarily await the deliberations by both the governments. Endeavour will certainly be made to pursue the subject expeditiously,” the DMRC said.

Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta, appearing for DAMEPL, said the manner in which payments were to be made has been laid down by the high court in its earlier order which has also been confirmed by the Supreme Court.

He argued that the matter was being dragged and in each hearing a different stand was being taken about how the money will be paid.

He said threats cannot be held out to courts that the public will be affected if orders are passed and that in a commercial matter like this, his client's interests are also very important.

The high court had in September granted four weeks to the DMRC to make outstanding payment in relation to the arbitral award, failing which it will be “constrained” to call for the appearance of DMRC's Managing Director.

On March 10, the high court had directed the DMRC to pay the over Rs 4,600 crore arbitral award along with interest to 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 direction had come on DAMEPL's execution petition filed against the DMRC over the arbitral award passed in its favour on May 11, 2017.

An arbitral tribunal had ruled in favour of DAMEPL, which had pulled out from 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. PTI SKV

(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)