SC seeks clarity in Delhi Airport Metro’s debt case

The apex court directed the government to respond by Wednesday, and denied the DMRC’s request for an additional four weeks to respond.

The Delhi Airport Metro Express, which is operated by Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, won an arbitration award of ₹7,200 crore in May 2017 against DMRC, out of which ₹2,600 crore has been paid by the government-owned firm.

“On one hand there are public speeches on making India an international arbitration hub, but there is no effort to enforcement of award? The award upheld by the court has to be followed,” the bench headed by Justice B.R. Gavai said.

Justice Vikram Nath asked attorney general R. Venkataramani about the tentative timeline for settling the dues, and if the Union of India was willing to become a party to the case.

When the attorney general sought four more weeks for the DMRC to come up with a payment plan, the apex court rejected his plea.

Reliance Infrastructure had filed a special leave petition in the apex court in November, seeking payment of the dues of ₹4,500 crore.

Subsequently, the court had issued a notice to DMRC and asked it to respond by 12 December.

Parallelly, the matter is also being heard by the Delhi High Court which granted DMRC time till 12 December and had asked the company to come up with a plan to settle the dues.

On 17 November, DMRC had filed an affidavit in the high court stating the Delhi government will discuss clearing at least half the amount at a cabinet meeting, but the matter may take some more time.