[Delhi Metro v Reliance Infra subsidiary] Arbitration award amount should come to us: Banks to Delhi High Court

A group of banks has approached the Delhi High Court demanding that the ₹6,000 crore that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) owes Anil Ambani-owned Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (DAMEPL) should come to them [Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited v Delhi Metro Rail Corporation]..The Banks have said that the Anil Ambani group of companies owes nearly ₹9,000 crore to them and considering the group’s status, this is the opportune moment for them to recover the amount..The submission was made by Senior Advocate Ramji Srinivasan before Justice Suresh Kumar Kait on Thursday, during the hearing of the execution petition filed by Reliance Infrastructure’s subsidiary DAMEPL seeking the payment of a ₹7,000 crore award in its favour granted by an arbitration tribunal and upheld by the Supreme Court..While DMRC has already deposited ₹1,000 crore in an escrow account, it still owes ₹6,000 crore. The quantum of the amount, however, is contested by the Delhi Metro, which also said that it does not have enough funds to pay the same.Appearing for the DMRC, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had previously argued that the government should be allowed to deal with the banks directly so that they can take over the liabilities of Reliance Infra, which owes large amounts of money to public lenders. This, Mehta had said, would ease the burden on the DMRC, which lacks funds to pay the entire amount to the DAMEPL..Srinivasan told the Court today that an application has been filed by the Anil Ambani group’s lenders in this regard, but it is yet to be taken on record.“The Delhi Metro has to pay them around ₹6,000 crores. Since public money is involved here and given the status of the Anil Ambani Group which owes us more than ₹9,000 crore, this is an opportune moment and the money should come to public lenders. I have given all the details in my application. We do not want this money to be disbursed outside but to us,” he submitted..Counsel appearing for DAMEPL, Senior Advocate Rakesh K Khanna, contested the application, arguing that the Court was only dealing with an execution petition, and that the money has to be released by DMRC..The Court listed the case for further hearing on Monday, adding that no adjournment will be given on that day, on whatever grounds, to any of the parties..On Monday, the High Court directed DMRC to submit by Thursday its balance sheet for the year 2021, along with details of its bank accounts and fixed deposits.Senior Advocate Parag Tripathi, appearing for DMRC, disputed DAMEPL’s claim of ₹7,000 crore dues and submitted that DMRC only owes a little more than ₹3,000 crore. It was argued that the DMRC employs around 14,000 people and it is bleeding money because of the COVID-19 curbs, thereby suffering a loss of around ₹100 crore every month..Delhi High Court directs DMRC to furnish balance sheet, bank account details, fixed deposits.In September last year, the Supreme Court had upheld a ₹2,800 crore arbitral award passed in 2017 in favour of DAMEPL against the DMRC in relation to the dispute over the Delhi Airport Express Line.