In a relief to beleaguered IL&FS, the Apex Court on Friday directed the Govt of Haryana to pay Rs 1,925 crore to the infrastructure company after the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) failed to pay dues to the firm.
IL&FS had bagged the two-phase Gurgaon Metro Project, which was developed through its subsidiary SPVs, Rapid Metro Rail Gurgaon & Rapid Metro Rail Gurgaon South, in 2009 & 2013.
The Supreme Court said that “HSVP shall within a period of three months from the date of the present judgment deposit into the escrow account 80 per cent of the debt due.” The total debt due is over Rs 2,400 crore.
The deposit into the escrow account shall continue to be maintained in the escrow, subject to any order passed by NCLAT or any other competent statutory authority, the order said. Due to multiple unmet obligations by HSVP under the concession agreement IL&FS SPVs had terminated the agreements in Sept 2019 & demanded certain termination payments due to it. HSVP, however, refuted the contention of IL&FS SPVs & challenged the matter in the Punjab and Haryana Hih Court.
The High Court after hearing both parties, ruled in September 2019 that Operations & Maintenance of the MetroLink be handed over to HSVP.
It directed CAG to carry out a financial audit of total debt due. Thereafter, HSVP had to pay 80% of debt due (as determined by CAG) in the escrow account within 30 days of submission of CAG report & sought that all other disputes be settled through arbitration. The project was handed over to HSVP in Oct 2019, as per court orders.
Auditors appointed by CAG submitted their report on debt due & determined the same at Rs 2,407 crore. The report was taken note of by the court on Sept 28, 2020.
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