This petition addresses the alleged failure by DAMEPL to refund funds deposited by DMRC. The case was initially listed before a bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan, when Justice Viswanathan decided to withdraw from the proceedings.
NEW DELHI: On Thursday(14th Nov), Supreme Court Justice KV Viswanathan recused himself from hearing a contempt petition filed by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRC) against Anil Ambani’s Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt Ltd (DAMEPL).
This petition addresses the alleged failure by DAMEPL to refund funds deposited by DMRC. The case was initially listed before a bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan, when Justice Viswanathan decided to withdraw from the proceedings.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court had set aside a Rs2,800 crore arbitral award initially granted to DAMEPL against DMRC.
The April ruling came after a bench led by then Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, along with Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant, allowed DMRC’s curative petition challenging the Supreme Court’s 2021 judgment, which had upheld the arbitral award based on a 2008 concession agreement for the Delhi Airport Express Line.
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The latest decision reinstated a Delhi High Court Division Bench’s ruling in DMRC’s favor, which had overturned a single-judge decision supporting DAMEPL.
BRIEF FACTS
In 2008 Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) agreement between DMRC and DAMEPL, a special purpose vehicle of Reliance Infrastructure, for the Delhi Airport Express line. DAMEPL terminated this agreement in 2012, alleging that DMRC failed to address structural issues. DMRC subsequently initiated arbitration, contending that DAMEPL’s termination was unlawful.
In 2017, the arbitral tribunal ruled in favor of DAMEPL, awarding ₹2,800 crore plus interest, which a Delhi High Court single judge upheld in 2018. However, the High Court’s Division Bench later reversed this decision, a judgment the Supreme Court briefly overturned in 2021 before ultimately ruling in DMRC’s favor again in 2024 under its curative jurisdiction.
DMRC is now seeking contempt proceedings against DAMEPL, alleging non-compliance with the Supreme Court’s refund directive.
