Justice K V Viswanathan of the Supreme Court recused himself on Thursday from hearing a contempt plea in the ongoing legal battle between the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (DAMEPL), an Anil Ambani group firm. The plea alleges contempt of the apex court’s April verdict which set aside a 2021 decision awarding DAMEPL approximately Rs 8,000 crore.
The case, which has seen various legal turns over the years, originated from an arbitration award in 2017. This award initially found in favor of DAMEPL, entitling it to Rs 2,782.33 crores plus interest under the terms of the concession agreement. This amount escalated to Rs 8,009.38 crore by February 2022.
The Supreme Court, on April 10 this year, revisited its 2021 judgment that upheld the arbitration award, stating the previous judgment had caused a “grave miscarriage of injustice” to DMRC by imposing an exorbitant liability on the public utility. The court then ordered DAMEPL to return about Rs 2,500 crore it had received and validated the decision of the Delhi High Court division bench as “well-considered.”
The contempt plea brought before Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan on Thursday sought to address non-compliance with this April verdict. However, Justice Viswanathan immediately opted out of the case, stating, “I can’t hear this,” and prompted the court to direct that the matter be listed before a different bench.
This legal saga began when DAMEPL, citing safety concerns and structural defects in the viaduct, terminated its agreement to operate the Airport Express metro line in October 2012. An arbitral tribunal in May 2017 sided with DAMEPL, agreeing that running the metro operations was not viable under the circumstances.
The DMRC has since challenged the arbitral award on multiple fronts, including the legality of the termination notice. Following the dismissal of its review plea by the Supreme Court in November 2021, DMRC filed a curative plea in 2022, representing its last legal recourse.
