In the realm of judicial deliberations, the apex court of New Delhi, under the leadership of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, rendered a consequential verdict on Wednesday. This decision pertained to the curative petition filed by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) against an arbitral decree, mandating a payment of nearly Rs 8,000 crore to the subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure, known as Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (DAMEPL).
Chief Justice Chandrachud, alongside Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant, comprised the triad of jurists behind this pivotal decision. In their pronouncement, Chief Justice Chandrachud articulated a profound disapproval of the previous judgment, highlighting a perceived lack of justification for the court’s intervention under Article 136. He unequivocally expressed that the court’s intervention had unwittingly reinstated an ostensibly unlawful award, thereby perpetrating a grievous miscarriage of justice.
The exhaustive rationale behind this decision is slated to be disclosed at a later juncture within the day’s timeline. On February 20, the apex court had, after due contemplation, deferred the issuance of orders on the curative petition tendered by the DMRC vis-à-vis the arbitral ruling that obligated the DMRC to remit a substantial sum to DAMEPL, a subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure.
It’s worth noting that the DMRC’s prior endeavor to challenge the award in the highest echelons of the judiciary, dating back to September 2021, culminated in an adverse ruling. Subsequently, DAMEPL pursued legal recourse through the Delhi High Court to enforce the aforementioned award. A significant development ensued in August of the preceding year when the apex court interceded, instructing the high court to suspend its proceedings until a resolution regarding the curative plea was attained.
During the legal discourse, the representatives of DMRC, comprising Attorney General R Venkataramani and senior advocate KK Venugopal, vehemently asserted before the apex court that subsequent to the termination of the contractual arrangement, DMRC had proficiently managed the operations of the airport line since July 2013.
Conversely, DAMEPL voiced apprehensions regarding the safety implications of prolonging the contractual engagement to administer the 22.7km Airport Metro Express line. This apprehension ultimately led to the termination of the contract by DMRC in October 2012.
