Apex court rules that DMRC is not required to provide the Reliance Infra company Rs 8K crore

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court overturned a three-year-old ruling that had given an Anil Ambani group company Rs 8,000 crore in a dispute with Delhi Metro and ordered the latter to return roughly Rs 2,500 crore. The court reasoned that the earlier ruling had resulted in a “grave miscarriage of injustice” for a public utility that was burdened with an enormous liability.

Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud led a special bench that granted the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s (DMRC) curative appeal against the 2021 verdict. The bench stated that the Delhi High Court division bench’s order was a “well-considered decision” and that the Supreme Court had “no valid basis” to intervene.

It claimed that the top court’s intervention in prior rulings had restored an award that was obviously unlawful.

A miscarriage of justice has occurred as a consequence of the two-judge bench of this court’s decision, which interfered with the Division Bench of the High Court’s decision.

Reliance Infrastructure Ltd., meanwhile, said in a stock market statement that it has not received any payment from DMRC or DAMEPL in accordance with the arbitral ruling and that it is not liable for anything as a result of the April 10, 2024, Supreme Court order.

Anil’s setback

A Rs 8,000 cr arbitral verdict made in favor of Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (DAMEPL), a division of Reliance Infrastructure, owned by Anil Ambani, has been overturned by the SC.
The decision pertained to a disagreement that emerged from a 2008 “concession agreement” between DAMEPL and Delhi Metro Rail Corp. DMRC had previously given the Reliance Infra division Rs 3,300 cr, which is now owed.