DELHI (Metro Rail News): The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) told the Delhi high court on Monday that it has Rs. 6,208.03 crore in its various bank accounts, a day after DAMEPL filed a case in the court seeking contempt proceedings against the former for not releasing its complete bank account details.
DAMEPL, a Reliance Infrastructure company, filed an appeal in the high court on January 7 alleging that DMRC is attempting to stall the execution of an Rs. 4.600 crore arbitral award against it by withholding its bank account information. DAMEPL claims that DMRC attempts to thwart the arbitration process by disclosing only a portion of its bank account information, despite the court’s order requiring it to disclose all of its bank account information.
DAMEPL filed the application in response to a DMRC affidavit on January 5. Metro made a partial/limited disclosure of its bank accounts concerning 1,642.69 crores of the total funds 5,800.93 crores that it had disclosed in the court through its last affidavit filed on December 21, 2021.
Justice Suresh Kait ordered DMRC to provide an affidavit detailing its bank accounts and the balance amount on December 22. While DMRC’s properties could not be attached under Section 89 of the Metro Railways (Operation and Maintenance) Act, 2002, there was no similar restriction on its bank accounts, according to the judgement.
According to the affidavit filed on Monday, out of 6,208.03 crores in DMRC’s bank accounts, 1,642.69 crore is not the company’s earnings. This comprises a committed obligation of 514 crores to staff on leave salary and post-retirement medical expenditures. A provision has been made in DMRC’s books and a 114 crore portion of intelligent card security deposits recoverable to commuters. The case will most likely be heard the following day, on Tuesday.
The Concession Agreement was cancelled in October 2012 by a consortium of Reliance Energy Limited (now Reliance Infrastructure Limited) and M/s Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, SA, alleging DMRC’s failure to repair deficiencies in the structure supporting the Airport Metro Express Line. As a result, the arbitration clause in DMRC’s contract with the consortium was exercised.
On August 25, 2008, the two parties signed a concession deal. DMRC was to carry out the civil works, except at the depot, and DAMEPL, a joint venture of Rinfra and a Spanish construction company — Construcciones Y Auxiliar De Ferrocarriles — with 95 and 5% shareholdings, was to carry out the remaining works, including the project system works.
Reliance Infra was awarded Rs. 4600 in damages by the Arbitral Tribunal in 2017 and the decision was affirmed by a single-judge bench of the Delhi high court in 2018. However, in 2019, a division bench of the same court overturned the award, prompting Reliance Infra to appeal to the Supreme Court. The apex court overturned the division bench’s verdict of January 15, 2019, and upheld the arbitral award favouring DAMEPL in September 2021, citing a troubling trend of courts overturning arbitral awards.
In November, the Supreme Court denied DMRC’s request to review its decision upholding DAMEPL’s 2017 arbitration award, which was enforceable against it. The DMRC indicated that, due to the corporation’s “financial crunch,” taking on a “sudden burden” would jeopardise the public’s interest and that officials were working on a solution. They further alleged that the sum owed to it was around 5,000 crores.
