Reliance Infra moves court to expedite payment of arbitration amount from DMRC

MUMBAI: Reliance Infrastructure subsidiary Delhi Airport Metro Express has moved the Delhi High Court seeking execution of the Rs 5,200 cr arbitration award it had won against Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) after the company got a Delhi High Court order in its favour in the matter, the Anil Ambani company said on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, the Delhi High Court directed Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to pay an arbitration award of Rs 2,950 crore to Reliance Infrastructure as compensation for violating their agreement on operating the Airport Express Line in the capital. The total amount with interest stands at Rs 5,060 crore.
“In its petition filed under section 36 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act in the division bench headed by Chief Justice of Delhi HC, DAMEPL has sought an order for the execution of the award dated May 11, 2017 passed by the Arbitral Tribunal and direct DMRC to pay a Rs 5,200 crore. This includes principal amount of Rs 2,945.54 crore along with interest as on date,” the company said.

The please is aimed at expediting the payment process as the company wants to use the funds to pare its debt.

Reliance Infrastructure’s subsidiary Delhi Airport Metro Express won the arbitration award in May last year and subsequently filed a petition in the Delhi High Court seeking early payment.

Reliance Infrastructure, which had the contract to develop and operate the Airport Express Line, terminated the agreement in 2012, contending that DMRC had failed to fix civil structure defects in the project. The company sought compensation and the dispute was referred to the arbitration tribunal.

The tribunal, formed out of a DMRC-nominated panel as required by the concession agreement, heard the case for three and a half years and granted a verdict in favour of Reliance Infra.

In its verdict earlier, the high court directed DMRC to deposit Rs 3,502 crore in an escrow account within four weeks.