The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a response from the managing director of the Reliance Infrastructure subsidiary, the Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt Ltd (DAMEPL) and the Axis Bank managing Director and others as to why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them for failing to refund more than Rs 4,500 crore, including interest, to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), as directed by the apex court in April.
DMRC had moved a contempt petition against DAMEPL, the managing director of the Reliance Infrastructure subsidiary and others for “wilfully disobeying” the court’s order to refund the amount that the corporation had deposited in an escrow account.
However, a bench led by Justice Suryakant exempted the alleged contemnors from personal appearance before the court.
The apex court had in April set aside an arbitration award of about Rs 8,000 crore that DAMEPL had won against state-run DMRC in May 2017. It had also ordered refund of the amount that the corporation had deposited against the arbitral award as directed by the Delhi High Court.
DMRC now wants a direction to the parties, including Axis Bank and its managing director, to refund more than Rs 4,500 crore, including interest, that it had deposited in the escrow account maintained by the bank. Apart from refund of Rs 2,599 crore, the corporation wants interest amounting to Rs 1,935 crore, and a further interest of 2% on Rs 2,599 crore till the actual date of deposit, according to the contempt petition.
(With inputs from Indu Bhan)
