Delhi Metro airport express line (File)
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) “wilfully distorted” its concession agreement relating to the Airport Express Line to favour a subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure, thus “bleeding” the public exchequer when the contract was terminated by the private firm, the Dialogue and Development Commission (DDC) of Delhi has claimed in a report to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The report, prepared by DDC vice-chairman Ashish Khetan and submitted to Kejriwal on March 12, has recommended an independent criminal probe into the matter. It faults the DMRC and the Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (DAMEPL), the subsidiary, on four counts.
Both the DMRC and Reliance Infra were sent a detailed questionnaire seeking their comments on the report. DMRC refused to comment, claiming it was not aware of any such enquiry. Reliance Infrastructure said it will not comment. The Indian Express has learnt that the DMRC had earlier provided all requisite documents, including the concession agreement, to the DDC.
The report claims that the provision of Total Project Cost (TPC) in the agreement, which is a standard in public-private partnership projects as it caps the termination liability of the government, was “removed” by the DMRC. It further claims that the agreement was not cleared by the DMRC board.
“This wilful omission (of TPC) in the case of (the Airport Line) is one of the main reasons why the private concessionaire led by Anil Ambani Group has bagged such a large arbitral award, to the detriment of the exchequer,” the report says. The Reliance ADA had terminated the agreement with DMRC to run the Airport Express Line in January 2013, citing design flaws. In September, an arbitration tribunal was set up to settle the dispute, which in May 2017 directed the DMRC to pay Rs 4,670 crore to DAMEPL.
Doing away with the TPC also allowed the concessionaire to indulge in “Gold-Plating of costs”, which essentially means adding unnecessary features beyond the scope of an agreement, to the tune of over Rs 500 crore, the report alleges, while adding that the interest rate on the payment of termination amount was also enhanced to provide an “unfair financial advantage” to the DAMEPL.
“Further, there were serious multiple defects and lapses in the entire civil construction of (the Airport Line) by the DMRC, which led to the termination of the agreement. Safety of passengers has also been compromised seriously,” it alleges. The DDC report, commissioned by Kejriwal on Novemver 6, 2017, claims the concession agreement was not vetted by any law firm nor was it approved by the DMRC board.
“This is a major lapse and is contrary to corporate norms. Though the MD had the delegated powers to accept any tender, he had no delegated power to approve the terms and conditions enshrined in a complex concession agreement,” it states.
“The above lapses and malfeasance have criminal overtones and liability. An independent criminal investigation is, therefore, warranted to bring the offenders to book. A high-level enquiry by experts is also necessary to establish the defects in civil construction with a view to rectify them so that public safety is not compromised and trains can be run at the design speed of 120 km/hr,” it states.