Neutral Citation Number: 2023:DHC:1902

OMP (ENF.) (COMM.) 145/2021

Page 1 of 133

*

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

%

Order reserved on: 10 March 2023

Order pronounced on: 17 March 2023

+

OMP (ENF.) (COMM.) 145/2021

DELHI AIRPORT METRO EXPRESS PRIVATE LIMITED

..... Decree Holder

Through:

Mr. Kapil Sibal, Sr. Adv. with

Mr. Mahesh Agarwal, Mr. Rishi

Agarwal, Mr. Shri Venkatesh,

Ms. Megha Mehta, Ms. Niyati

Kohli,

Mr.

Pranjit

Bhattacharya,

Mr.

Suhael

Buttan, Mr. Vineet Kumar, Ms.

Manavi

Agarwal

and

Ms.

Manisha Singh, Advs.

versus

DELHI METRO RAIL CORPORATION LTD.

..... Judgement Debtor

Through:

Mr.

Tarun

Johri,

Mr.

Vishwajeeet Tyagi, Mr. Ankur

Gupta, Advs. with Mr. Sanjay

V. Kute, GM/Legal, DMRC.

Mr. Chetan Sharma, ASG with

Mr. Apoorv Kurup, CGSC, Mr.

Amit Gupta, Ms. Nidhi Mittal,

Mr. Ojaswa Pathak, Mr. R.V.

Prabhat, Mr. Vinay Yadav and

Mr. Suresh Tripathi, Advs. for

UOI.

Mr. Parag P. Tripathi, Sr. Adv.

and Mr. Manish Vashisht, Sr.

Adv. with Mr. Santosh Tripathi,

SC with Mr. Udit Malik, ASC,

Mr. Arun Panwar, Ms. Rachita

Garg and Ms. Astha Gupta,

Digitally Signed

By:NEHA

Signing Date:17.03.2023

17:04:09

Signature Not Verified

Neutral Citation Number: 2023:DHC:1902

OMP (ENF.) (COMM.) 145/2021

Page 2 of 133

Advs. for GNCTD.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE YASHWANT VARMA

O R D E R

EX.APPL.(OS) 2933/2022 in OMP (ENF.) (COMM.) 145/2021

1.

The present execution petition relates to an award dated 11 May

2017. The challenge under Section 34 of the Arbitration and

Conciliation Act, 1996¹ which was mounted by the Delhi Metro Rail

Corporation² came to be dismissed on 06 March 2018. DMRC is

thereafter stated to have preferred an intra-court appeal which came to

be partly allowed by the Division Bench in terms of its judgement

dated 15 January 2019.

2.

Aggrieved by the aforesaid, the execution petitioner preferred a

Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court which was allowed

in terms of the judgement rendered on 09 September 2021. The said

decision stands reported as Delhi Airport Metro Express (P) Ltd. v.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd.³. The review petition preferred

by DMRC seeking review of the aforesaid order also came to be

dismissed by the Supreme Court on 23 November 2021. The

execution petition as well as the objections which had come to be

preferred came up for substantive consideration before the Court

thereafter.

1 The Act

2 DMRC

3 (2022)1 SCC 131

Digitally Signed

By:NEHA

Signing Date:17.03.2023

17:04:09

Signature Not Verified

Neutral Citation Number: 2023:DHC:1902

OMP (ENF.) (COMM.) 145/2021

Page 3 of 133

3.

For the purposes of the present order, it would be pertinent to

principally advert to the orders of 10 March 2022 and 20 June 2022

passed by this Court on the present petition. In terms of the order

dated 10 March 2022, the Court by way of an elaborate order

proceeded to rule on the question of interest as well as the liability of

the DMRC to make payments in terms of the final Award that was

rendered. The Court also decided the various objections which were

raised by the DMRC with respect to computation of interest and the

ambit of Section 89 of the Metro Railways (Operation and

Maintenance) Act, 2002⁴. It would be apposite to extract the

following parts of that decision: -

“31. During pendency of these proceedings, the judgment debtor

had also made payment of Rs.678 crores and Rs.1000 crores i.e.

Rs.1678.42 crores. Even on the day orders in the present petition

were reserved, learned senior counsel for judgment debtor had

undertaken that the amount of Rs.600 crores shall be deposited in

the ESCROW account. The judgment debtor has raised the

contention that the payments made by the judgment debtor should

have been adjusted from the due amount on the date of payment

can not be accepted. The Constitution Bench of Hon'ble Supreme

Court in Gurpre