Huge victory for Anil Ambani firm as SC upholds Rs 4,600 crore arbitration award against Delhi Metro

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the 2017 arbitration award worth over Rs 4,600 crore in favour of Anil Ambani group firm, Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt Ltd (DAMEPL), enforceable against Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. A bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao quashed the Delhi High Court order that had set aside the arbitration award in favour of DAMEPL which had pulled out from running the Airport Express metro line over safety issues. As per the Reliance Infrastructure’s latest annual report, the award is worth around $632 million (over Rs 4,600 crore) including the interest. The arbitral tribunal in its May 2017 award had accepted airport metro operator’s claim that the running of operations on the line was not viable due reasons such as structural defects. DAMEPL, as per its lawyers’ submissions during the hearings in the case, will use the money to pay lenders. DAMEPL, in 2008, had entered into a contract with DMRC for running the airport metro line till 2038. As disputes arose between the parties, DAMEPL stopped operating the metro on the airport line and invoked arbitration clause against DMRC alleging violation of contract and sought a termination fee.