Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt Ltd (DAMPEL), a subsidiary of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Infrastructure Limited, in a letter dated January 27, 2022, has requested the Delhi High Court to direct Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to deposit Rs 6,208 crore into its various accounts.
The latest development in the 2017 arbitration case between DAMPEL and DMRC, comes days ahead as the Delhi High Court is set to hear the matter on January 31, 2022.
In its letter to the registrar of the Delhi High Court, DAMPEL has also rejected any out of court settlements/negotiations with the DMRC or any alternate proposal from the latter, while maintaining that it wants the execution of the arbitral award at the earliest.
DAMPEL has maintained the same in the last hearing of the matter in the Supreme Court on January 24. The apex court, while directing the High Court to look into the matter on January 31, had said that the consequence of any further delay in the application will be detrimental to the interest of the petitioner as well as the respondent.
The case pertains to the non-payment of termination fee since 2013 worth Rs 7,200 crores by DMRC. In its earlier petition, DAMPEL had said that the non-payment of the fee is causing immense damage to both DAMPEL and Reliance Infrastructure, which had infused an amount of Rs 2,513 crore to DAMPEL, by taking loans from several public sector banks.
With the non-payment by DMRC, the lender banks have initiated the liquidation process against DAMPEL, the company said.
It also said that the non-payment of fees by DMRC has added an incremental daily interest of Rs 1.76 crores. The cumulative payment amount, between September 10, 2021, and January 31, 2022, now stands at Rs 260 crores.
On September 7, 2021, the Supreme Court while ruling in favour of DAMPEL, had upheld an arbitration award of Rs. 7,200. On September 12, DAMPEL moved the Delhi High Court, asking the court to direct DMRC to honour the apex court’s decision by paying Rs 7,200 to the company. However, DMRC has only made a payment of Rs 1,000 crore so far. And DAMPEL wants the remaining Rs 6200 crore to be cleared at the earliest.
