New Delhi, April 10 (IANS) The Supreme Court, delivering its verdict on a curative petition by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), on Wednesday overturned the September 2021 decision which had upheld the arbitral award in favour of the Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt Ltd (DAMEPL), which used to operate the Delhi Airport Metro line.
A bench, headed by CJI D.Y. Chandrachud, ordered that the execution proceedings pending before the Delhi High Court for enforcing the 2017 arbitral award must be discontinued and the amounts deposited be refunded to the DMRC.
“The part of the awarded amount, if any, paid by the petitioner (DMRC) as a result of coercive action is liable to be restored in favour of the petitioner. The orders passed by the High Court in the course of the execution proceedings for enforcing the arbitral award are set aside,” said the Bench, also comprising Justices B.R. Gavai and Surya Kant.
The decision came on a curative plea filed by DMRC challenging the restoration of the award in favour of Reliance Infrastructure arm DAMEPL.
In 2017, a three-member arbitral tribunal passed a unanimous award in favour of the DAMEPL accepting the Airport Metro operator’s claim that running operations on the line was not viable due to reasons such as structural defects.
Subsequently, a division bench of the Delhi High Court partly allowed the appeal filed by the DMRC. However, the award was restored by the Supreme Court on a special leave petition filed by the DAMEPL.
In its latest judgment, the apex court said: “While the cure notice contains allegations about the line not being operational, there is evidence on the record indicating that the line was in fact running…..The award contains no explanation as to why the steps which were taken by the DMRC were not ‘effective steps’ within the meaning of the termination clause.”
Further, it said that the arbitral tribunal ignored the specific terms of the termination clause and erroneously rejected the CMRS (Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety) sanction as irrelevant.
The Supreme Court said that the “Division Bench (of the High Court) correctly held that the arbitral tribunal ignored vital evidence on the record, resulting in perversity and patent illegality, warranting interference”.
The Division Bench applied the correct test in holding that the arbitral award suffered from the vice of perversity and patent illegality, it added.
In 2008, the DAMEPL entered into a contract with the DMRC for running the Airport Metro line till 2038. As disputes arose between the parties, the DAMEPL stopped operating the Metro on the airport line and invoked the arbitration clause against the DMRC, alleging a violation of the contract and sought a termination fee.
–IANS
pds/vd
Disclaimer
The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by TodayIndia.news and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
Through this website you are able to link to other websites which are not under the control of TodayIndia.news We have no control over the nature, content and availability of those sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
Every effort is made to keep the website up and running smoothly. However, TodayIndia.news takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the website being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.
For any legal details or query please visit original source link given with news or click on Go to Source.
Our translation service aims to offer the most accurate translation possible and we rarely experience any issues with news post. However, as the translation is carried out by third part tool there is a possibility for error to cause the occasional inaccuracy. We therefore require you to accept this disclaimer before confirming any translation news with us.
If you are not willing to accept this disclaimer then we recommend reading news post in its original language.
