Delhi HC asks DMRC to pay Rs 4,600 cr arbitral award to DAMEPL

On Thursday, Delhi High Court has asked the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to pay more than Rs 4,600 crore of the arbitral award along with interest to Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (DAMEPL) in two equal installments within the next two months. The court ordered that the first and second instalments be paid by April 30 and May 31 of this year, respectively. The judgement of the court came on DAMEPL's execution petition filed against DMRC regarding an arbitral award of over Rs 4,600 crore in its favour. On May 11, 2017, it stated that the arbitral award reached finality and it cannot be permitted to remain a paper judgement, and that judgement debtor DMRC is required to either shift its funds after receiving approval from the central government or raise loans to fulfil the award, if necessary. During the pendency of these proceedings, Justice Suresh Kumar Kait told the media that DMRC had made payment of Rs 1678.42 crore and even on the day order was secured in the implementation petition, DMRC's counsel had undertaken that Rs 600 crore shall be deposited in the ESCROW account. The High Court recorded that according to the DMRC affidavit, the total funds available with it as of February 14, 2022, are Rs 1,452.10 crore under the head Total DMRC Funds, Rs 2,681.29 crore under the head Total Project Funds, and Rs 1,560 crore under the head Total Other Funds. However, on January 10, 2022, the fund details and a DMRC affidavit, Rs 514 crore is committed to employee salaries, medical, and post-retiral benefits, and Rs 114 crore is the percentage of the security deposit on smart cards that is refundable to passengers. Image Source Also read: DMRC achieves the first stretch of tunnel of its phase-4 project