Draft amendment circulated for inter-ministerial feedback says no earnings, parcels of land of Metro shall be attached

DAMEPL had been contracted in 2008 to operate the Delhi Airport line, but terminated the contract in 2012. The company won an arbitral award in 2017 that was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2021 and has moved the Delhi High Court for payment of around Rs 7,000 crore amount.

The ministry informed the High Court on March 2 that the permission to attach properties had not been given.In denying the sanction, Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Puri had on March 1 written in a note that the Act should be amended to avoid any future attempts to attach Metro properties in such cases.

Section 89 of the Act says “no rolling stock, metro railway tracks, machinery, plant, tools, fittings, materials or effects used or provided by a metro railway administration for the purpose of traffic on its railway, or its stations or workshops, or offices shall be liable to be taken in execution of any decree or order of any court….without the previous sanction of the Central government”. The draft amendment proposes to do away with the sanction of the Central government, outrightly prohibiting any attachment of the assets mentioned. The amendment also adds “earnings or any parcel of land held by Metro rail administration” to the list of assets that cannot be attached.

According to Ministry sources, the draft, which was circulated on March 17 with two weeks’ time for feedback, was yet to be finalised and was unlikely to make it to the ongoing Budget session.