The Supreme Court on November 28 made it clear that the Delhi government should fully comply with its order to pay its contribution of ₹415 crore to the Regional Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS) project.
A Bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul expressed displeasure that the government had to be “arm-twisted to pay money that it is liable to pay”.
“You can make a budgetary provision for advertisements but you cannot make provision for an infrastructure project. You want funds to be diverted from the environment and not make budgetary provision separately,” Justice Kaul orally observed.
Senior advocate Meenakshi Arora said the money had been transferred. However, senior advocate A.N.S Nadkarni, for a petitioner, maintained that it had not been done.
“Have you transferred the funds or not? At your request, we kept the order in abeyance for a week to comply with the assurance given to this court. Now please show us the document that shows compliance,” Justice Kaul addressed the Delhi government.
“The counsel for the Delhi government states that the amount of Rs 415 crore as per a sanction order, but it may not have been credited to the account of National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC). However, the sanction order itself states that it is in partial compliance. There can be no question of partial compliance. Complete compliance must take place as per the schedule,” the court observed in its order, listing the case again on December 7.”
On November 21, the Supreme Court had directed the Delhi government to transfer its advertising budget for the current year to pay its contribution towards the RRTS project, but had held the order in abeyance for a week.
The court was “constrained” to pass the order after the Delhi government had not contributed its share of ₹415 crore owed to the RRTS project despite repeated orders from the court and an assurance from the government in a hearing on July 24.
On July 3, the court had ordered the Delhi government to provide details of the money it had spent on advertisements in the past three years after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) regime said it did not have funds to contribute for the project.
The counsel for the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC), which is building the RRTS, had said the costs of the project were escalating annually.
