DMRC to pay 80 per cent debt amount of airport line

New Delhi: The DMRC cannot shy away from paying 80 per cent of the debt owed by Reliance Infrastructure subsidiary, DAMEPL to banks, which had loaned the money to run the Airport Express line, the Delhi high court said on Monday.

A bench of justice Sanjiv Khanna and justice Chander Shekhar noted that under the pact between the two, if the contract was terminated due to Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Ltd’s (DAMEPL) fault, then Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) would have to pay 80 per cent of the debt, while if it was the Metro's fault, then the PSU would have to pay 100 per cent of the debt and 130 per cent of the equity.

"You cannot shy away from the 80 per cent, even if they are at fault," the court told the DMRC which has challenged a March 6 single judge order upholding a Rs 5,164 crore arbitral award, including interest of nearly Rs 2,000 crore, in favour of DAMEPL in connection with the Airport Express project.

The court also said that asking for a stay of the single judge order would not be fair on the part of the DMRC. 

The DMRC has also challenged the single judge's direction to deposit within four weeks 75 per cent of the award amount in an escrow account maintained with the banks which had loaned money to DAMEPL.

The bench observed that had DMRC paid 80 per cent of the debt, the interest component would not have been so high.

It asked the DMRC whether it was willing to pay or take over the Rs 1,617 crore owed by DAMEPL to the 11 banks which had loaned the money to run the Airport Express line.

The query by the bench came after additional solicitor general (ASG) P.S. Narasimha, appearing for the DMRC, said his client will service the debt of Rs 1,617 crore, while DAMEPL said the Delhi Metro could take over the entire debt as it was running the express line.

DAMEPL, represented by senior advocates P Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal, said that apart from the Rs 1,617 crore owed to 11 banks, their client had also borrowed and infused in the project an additional Rs 2,501 crore which too the DMRC should take over.

The bench listed the matter for hearing tomorrow to await the Delhi Metro’s stand depending on which the high court said that it will pass an interim order.