Important cases heard in the Delhi High Court on Friday, March 17:
* HC directed the Centre and the city government to attend to DMRC’s request for extension of sovereign guarantees or subordinate debt to enable it to make payment of dues of an arbitral award passed in favour of Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited, saying the governments cannot shirk from their liability to abide by judgements and decrees.
* HC upheld an order setting aside an arbitral award directing ISRO’s Antrix Corporation to pay damages of USD 562.2 million with interest to Devas for terminating a deal in 2011.
* HC refused to entertain a PIL seeking direction to the Centre and the Election Commission to make voting compulsory in parliament and assembly polls, saying it cannot force a person to vote.
* HC sought the responses of its administrative side, the city government and the Centre on a petition seeking directions to set up 42 more commercial courts in the national capital to ensure a speedy redressal of commercial cases.
* HC sought response of the Centre, RBI and SEBI on a PIL seeking to form a committee of experts to investigate the transfer of a stress asset portfolio of Rs 48,000 crore from Yes Bank to JC Flowers Asset Reconstruction Company.
* HC asked the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) to call for proposed policies from insurance companies for persons with disabilities and expeditiously approve them after examination.
* HC granted bail to Shakti Bhog Foods chairman and managing director Kewal Krishan Kumar in connection with a money laundering probe arising from an alleged multi-crore bank loan fraud.
* HC took strong note of the fact that the “Total DMRC Funds” have drastically reduced between the period of March and May, 2022 as they were repatriated to the Centre by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation which has to pay dues of an arbitral award passed in favour of Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited.
