New Delhi: Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) Monday told the Delhi High Court that it would deposit within 48 hours Rs 1,000 crore in an escrow account towards an arbitral award of over Rs 4,600 crore in favour of Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (DAMEPL).
DMRC also suggested taking over the Reliance Infrastructure subsidiary's debt to the extent of the award money.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing DMRC, stated that since the corporation was facing a financial crunch , undertaking a sudden liability would impact public interest and authorities were therefore working out a solution.
The senior law officer also said that as per their calculation, the amount liable to be paid was approximately Rs 5,000 crore which was lesser than DAMEPL's claim. During the hearing, he also said that DAMEPL cannot arm-twist the corporation by demanding that half of the awarded amount be deposited which was not possible.
DAMEPL stated it was not arm-twisting anyone but was only seeking the amount payable under the arbitral award.
The Solicitor General told Justice Suresh Kumar Kait who was hearing DAMEPL's plea seeking execution of the arbitral award against DMRC that We are working out possibilities etc. Even if we have to pay, we may have to borrow (from banks) ... If it can be looked into, we can take over your (DAMEPL) debt (and) we will take care of the banks. DMRC can take over the debt and we will deal with the banks.
An arbitral tribunal in its May 2017 award 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 the running of operations on the line was not viable due to structural defects in the viaduct through which the train would run.
The concession agreement between the two was signed on August 25, 2008. Under the agreement, DMRC was to carry out the civil works, excluding at the depot, and the balance, including the project system works, were to be executed by DAMEPL, a joint venture of Rinfra and a Spanish construction company -- Construcciones Y Auxiliar De Ferrocarriles -- with a shareholding of 95 and five per cent respectively.