New Delhi Jan 31 PTI The Delhi High Court Monday asked the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation DMRC counsel to take clear instructions on how it will pay the amount of the arbitral award of over Rs 4600 crore to Reliance Infrastructures subsidiary DAMEPL or else face an unpleasant orderJustice Suresh Kumar Kait preponed the date of hearing relating to the execution of the arbitral award passed against the DMRC from March 29 to February 14Mr Parag Tripathi counsel for DMRC on the next date of hearing I dont want to hear anything here or there You have to take clear instructions on how to pay the amount This liability that liability will not work otherwise you will face an unpleasant order the judge saidDMRC counsel assured the court that they will not seek any further accommodationThe high court was adjudicating an early hearing application filed by DAMEPL in pursuance of the Supreme Courts January 24 orderThe parties are directed to appear before the high court on January 31 and seek for advancing the date of hearing We request the high court to take up the matter at the earliest and dispose of the execution application without any further delay as consequences of pendency of this application are detrimental to the interest of the petitioner as well as the respondent the apex court had said in its order while disposing of the appeal filed by DAMEPL challenging the high courts January 11 orderOn January 11 the high court had pulled up decree-holder DAMEPL for playing hide and seek with the court and holding out-of-court communications with judgement debtor DMRC to settle the dispute while arguing before the court that it was not ready to accept the proposal made by the PSUReliance Infrastructures subsidiary had filed an application claiming that DMRC was deliberately trying to delay the execution of the over Rs 4600 crore arbitral award against it which was costing the taxpayer a daily interest of almost Rs 175 croreAn 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 runIn December last year DAMEPLs counsel had told the court that as per DMRCs affidavit it had over Rs 5800 crore in its bank accounts as of December 17 2021 with over Rs 1642 crore being its earning and over Rs 2400 crore and Rs 1700 crore being its project allocation fund and deposit fund respectivelyDMRC had 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 solutionIt had earlier told the court that it would deposit Rs 1000 crore in favour of DAMEPL in an escrow accountThe award pertained to a concession agreement between the two entities which 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 R-Infra and a Spanish construction company -- Construcciones Y Auxiliar De Ferrocarriles -- with a shareholding of 95 and five per cent respectivelyThe Airport Express line was commissioned on February 23 2011 after an investment of over Rs 2885 crore funded by the DAMEPL promoters fund banks and financial institutionsIn November 2021 the Supreme Court had dismissed DMRCs plea seeking a review of its judgement which upheld the 2017 arbitration award in favour of DAMEPL enforceable against it PTI SKV SKV RKS RKS

New Delhi Dec 22 PTI The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation DMRC to file an affidavit furnishing the details of its bank accounts along with the balance amount in connection with a Reliance Infrastructure subsidiarys plea for the execution of an arbitral award of over Rs 4600 crore against itJustice Suresh Kumar Kait noted that the DMRC has Rs 164269 crore available in its bank accounts and said that if the Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited DAMEPL does not want to accept the corporations offer of taking over its debts to the extent of the award the court cant force it to do soDAMEPL says if it has money in hand in escrow account at least it can bargain with banks for restructuring etc Suppose it passes on total liability to you to pay to the lenders it will lose the bargaining power It is a decree holder you DMRC are a judgement debtor If your offer is accepted no issues But when it is not accepting that this court cant force it that you accept in this fashion the judge saidThe judge further observed that while the attachment of the DMRCs properties was not permitted there was no such embargo with respect to its bank accountsHere properties cannot be attached as per Section 89 of The Metro Railways Operation and Maintenance Act 2002 The option left with court is that how much money is left in the bank account That can be taken care of the court statedThe DMRC is directed to furnish the details of banks accounts in Delhi or outside Delhi It will also be mentioned in the affidavit how much amount is lying in a particular account the court orderedLawyer Prateek Seksaria appearing for DAMEPL informed that its lenders have rejected the DMRCs proposal of taking care of its liabilities and contended that no special treatment can be given to the government in the present execution proceedingsThe government should set an example by paying the award instead argued the lawyer who claimed that even after the DMRC deposited Rs 1000 crore in the escrow account over Rs 6000 crore was still due He submitted that DAMEPL is entitled to the amount awarded in the arbitration proceedings as well as the benefit of any surplus which may be utilised to restart its businessesDAMEPLs counsel further relied on the DMRCs affidavit to state that the corporation has over Rs 5800 crore in its bank accounts as on December 17 with Rs 1642 crore being its earning and over Rs 2400 crore and Rs 1700 crore being its project allocation fund and deposit fund respectivelyHe prayed that at least the admitted earnings of the DMRC should straightaway be appropriated towards execution of the awardSolicitor General Tushar Mehta and senior advocate Parag Tripathi appearing for the DMRC told the court that they have no instructions with respect to the banks concerned rejecting the proposal and reiterated that the corporation taking over DAMEPLs debts to the extent of the award and negotiating with the lenders would be in public interestThe government says we are in negotiations with the bank Reliance the award holderthey come and say that banks are interested in we DAMEPL getting the money and they have rejected the governments proposal If this is so this is very seriousSomething needs to be examined by the banking division also the solicitor general statedTripathi urged the court to grant the DMRC an opportunity to work out a solution and submitted that if the bank accounts are attached and metro services are stopped nobody would gain anythingIf metro is stopped tomorrow there will be a huge issueI will work it out because as an instrumentality of the state when I sit with the banks the ability to get a roll over of the amount as a loan from bank will be much greater he saidThe DMRC had told the court that it would deposit Rs 1000 crore in favour of DAMEPL while suggesting taking over its debt to the extent of the award moneyThe DMRC had 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 solutionIt had also claimed that the amount liable to be paid was approximately Rs 5000 crore which was lesser than DAMEPLs claimAn 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 runThe concession agreement between the two was signed on August 25 2008 Under the agreementthe DMRCwas 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 respectivelyThe Airport Express line was commissioned on February 23 2011 after an investment of over Rs 2885 crore funded by the DAMEPL promoters fund banks and financial institutions In November the Supreme Court had dismissedthe DMRCs plea seeking a review of its judgement which upheld the 2017 arbitration award in favour of DAMEPL enforceable against it The next hearing in the matter would take place in JanuaryPTI ADS DV DV