Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt Ltd (DAMEPL) vs DMRC
Civil Appeal No. 5038/2017 (SC 2024)
PPP Termination / Concession Enforcement
Read the judgmentBackground
DAMEPL (the private concessionaire for the Delhi Airport Metro link) terminated the concession agreement after citing DMRC's failure to rectify track defects that made operations unsafe. An arbitral tribunal awarded DAMEPL approximately ₹2,782 crore plus interest. The Delhi HC Division Bench set aside this award under Section 37, finding patent illegality. DAMEPL appealed to the Supreme Court.
What the court decided
The Supreme Court restored the arbitral award in favour of DAMEPL, holding that the Division Bench had re-appreciated evidence and substituted its own view, which is impermissible under Section 37. The Court reaffirmed that interference with arbitral awards should be minimal and that the grounds for setting aside are narrow. The judgment is the most significant PPP enforcement ruling in India to date.
What this means for your contracts team
For HAM and BOT concessionaires: this judgment confirms that concession termination payment obligations are enforceable through arbitration and courts cannot re-examine the merits under the guise of 'patent illegality'. Document every technical defect notice and authority response carefully. The DAMEPL case turned on the contemporaneous record of DMRC's failure to act.
The law is on your side. The documentation has to be too.
Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt Ltd (DAMEPL) won on contemporaneous records. CivilBolt structures your correspondence and site records so the evidence exists when you need it.