Central, Delhi govt officials to meet Thursday to discuss arbitral award payment to DAMEPL

New Delhi, Nov 9 A high-level meeting between the senior officials of Delhi government and Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) is scheduled to be held on Thursday to discuss the payment of arbitral award to Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt Ltd. (DAMEPL).

The meeting will also be attended by the senior officials of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and the leading banks.

The meeting has been convened after DMRC wrote to the Delhi government and MoHUA, seeking financial assistance for the payment of Rs 7,000 crore arbitral award to DAMEPL.

In the last hearing on October 31 in the Delhi High Court, Senior Counsel Maninder Singh, appearing for DMRC, had informed the court that a meeting has been scheduled by the Secretary to Government of India, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) on November 10 to discuss the matter and find a workable solution.

DMRC has sought financial assistance from Delhi government and MoHUA, who are 50:50 joint venture partners in the DMRC, for making payment of the arbitral award to DAMEPL.

DMRC had earlier stated in the court that it was financially constrained to arrange the required funds from its internal resources or through debt from banks, as it will fall into a debt trap. Hence, it has approached its equity partners (Delhi government and Central government) for financial assistance, for the payment of arbitral award to DAMEPL.

The delay in the payment of arbitral award to DAMEPL is putting an additional interest liability of Rs 1.24 crore per day on the DMRC. A delay of more than a year has already cost DMRC an additional interest liability of Rs 500 crore.

The Supreme Court, in September 2021, had upheld the arbitral award in favour of DAMEPL. It's been over a year now and DAMEPL is still waiting for the satisfaction of the award.

In the last six months, DMRC has failed to honour the three orders of Delhi HC that directed it to make a payment to DAMEPL.