DMRC seeks review of HC order on RInfra dues

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March 23, 2023

Mumbai: The Delhi Metro Rail Corp. (DMRC) on Thursday moved the Delhi High Court
seeking a review of a single judge order on Reliance Infrastructure-led Delhi Airport
Metro Express Pvt. Ltd’s plea, seeking payment of dues by DMRC under a 2017 arbitral
award.

On 17 March, Justice Yashwant Varma directed the Centre and the Delhi government to
immediately attend to Delhi Metro Rail’s request for extension of the sovereign
guarantee/subordinate debt, to clear the dues.

In its plea, DMRC has now sought a review of the attachment of total DMRC funds,
including statutory expenses. Justice Varma’s order said: “In case of a failure on part of
parties to proceed in terms of the directions, the entire amount standing to the credit of
Total DMRC funds, total project funds and other total funds as of today, shall stand
attached forthwith without reference to the court."

In the review petition, the DMRC through Attorney General for India R. Venkatramani
submitted in the court that the attachment of the total DMRC funds, comprising statutory
expenses and other operation and maintenance expenses are required for the smooth
functioning of the Metro in the city, and would result in complete stoppage and
immediate shutdown of the entire operations causing huge inconvenience to over 5
million commuters who travel by the Metro daily.

Delhi Metro is locked in a legal tussle with Delhi Airport Metro over payment of
arbitration dues of over ₹7,200 crore it owes to the latter.

In the review plea, DMRC said directions in the 17 March order were contradictory to a
judgment of 10 March 2022, when the HC had decided not to attach amounts committed
to salary, medical costs, and post-retiral benefits of DMRC employees, along with stated
statutory expenses.

“Meanwhile, let both Union and Delhi governments obtain appropriate instructions with
respect to directions framed in the 17 March order," Justice Varma said on Thursday.

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The court has agreed to hear the review plea on 29 March.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Priyanka Gawande
Priyanka Gawande is a senior legal correspondent at Mint. She has worked as legal
reporter for four years with both television and digital mediums. Based in Mumbai, she
reports on disputes across sectors including banking, corporates and finance. This also
includes insolvency and bankruptcy cases and intellectual property rights (IPR) litigation.
Her focus also comprises tracking capital markets and disputes relating to securities law.
Previously, Priyanka worked with Informist Media for 2.5 years covering major insolvency
and bankruptcy cases and corporate developments. She started her career in journalism
with Business Television India (BTVi) where she reported on primary markets, banking,
finance and insurance companies.

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