HC directs DMRC to pay ‘immediate interim relief’ to RInfra’s DAMEPL

Amount of ₹306 crore to benefit 11 banks, ensure no account of DAMEPL turns non-performing asset.

Reliance Infrastructure’s (RInfra) subsidiary Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Ltd (DAMEPL) on Tuesday said the Delhi High Court has directed Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to pay ₹306 crore as immediate interim relief to the company.

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The company said 11 banks will benefit from the HC order.

Accordingly, DMRC has been directed to pay ₹306 crore to a consortium of banks to ensure that no account of DAMEPL turns a non-performing asset (NPA) by March 31, 2018.

“The court passed an order to this effect on March 23, 2018 in response to an execution petition filed by DAMEPL under Section 36 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 seeking to enforce the arbitral award dated May 11, 2017,” RInfra said in a statement.

DAMEPL had filed the petition after an earlier petition by DMRC challenging the arbitral award was dismissed by the HC on March 6.

Following the court’s order, the banks are expected to get ₹306 crore from DMRC, the statement said.

“The court directed it is just and necessary that the amount sufficient to avert declaration of the accounts of the petitioner as NPA should be paid by DMRC to the 11 banks before March 28, 2018,” the statement said.

“In case where the accounts have already become NPA, the court has ordered that such minimum amount shall be paid by DMRC for the said accounts to be upgraded and excluded from the purview of being NPA,” it added.

The company said there is urgency for payments to be made since four banks have already declared the loan account of DAMEPL as NPA and Allahabad Bank has recalled the entire loan of DAMEPL.

In its petition, DAMEPL had submitted that its entire loan portfolio was on the verge of being declared NPA, which would lead to recall of loan amounts, and which entails a payment of ₹1,882 crore after March 31, 2018.

According to the company, the HC directed that DMRC would authorise one of its officials to approach the lead bank — Axis Bank — and would ascertain the minimum amount required to be paid to ensure that DAMEPL’s account does not become NPA.

The court also recorded that the payments being made were without prejudice to all rights and contentions of the parties, it added.