Haryana govt may seek extension of deadline for Rapid Metro takeover by DMRC

Source: hindustantimes.com

Gurugram: The Haryana government is likely to submit an application to the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday seeking extension of the deadline for taking over Rapid Metro by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) that has to be completed by Wednesday.

The government now wants an extension of deadline from October 16 to October 23, counsel for the government said.

On Monday, a meeting was convened at the Haryana Bhawan in Delhi by justice (retd) Kailash Gambhir and justice (retd) VK Gupta, who were appointed by the high court last month to supervise the handover process.

As per an official, who was present in the meeting, 52 contracts had been originally signed between the state government and the Rapid Metro Rail Gurgaon South Limited (RMRGSL), which needed time to be either transferred from RMRGSL to DMRC or signed afresh.

“Everything is proceeding amicably. The handover is taking time due to extensive documentation work. Hence, we are moving an application on Tuesday in the HC for extending the October 16 deadline till October 23. Both the parties (DMRC and RMRGSL) are cooperating and are unopposed to this proposition. To ensure the transfer takes place smoothly, at least four-five days more is needed for completing documentation work as a lot of agreements need to be novated,” said senior advocate Chetan Mittal, who is representing the Haryana government in the case.

The official quoted above said that the applicants may also ask the deadline to be further extended till October 31, but a final call on the official extension will be decided by the HC bench. Both the DMRC and the RMRGSL officials confirmed the decision of the meeting, but declined to comment on the matter.

On September 20, the high court had directed the RMRGSL to continue running the loss-making Rapid Metro service till October 16, and in the meantime initiate a gradual process of handing over the maintenance and running operations to the DMRC.

Prior to this, on September 6, IL&FS, which runs the Rapid Metro under RMRGSL, said it can no longer operate the service and had received legal permission for handing it over to Haryana Shahri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) on September 9.

On September 9, the HC ordered the firm to run the service till September 17.

Rapid Metro, India’s first private metro system, commenced operation in November 2013, connecting Cyber City, DLF Phase 3, to Delhi Metro’s Yellow Line at Sikanderpur. In March 2017, the second phase of the Rapid Metro, covering the entire Golf Course Road, was opened taking the entire length of the service to 11 stations with an 11.7-kilometre track.