You Allot 550 Crores For Advertisement, But Have To Be Arm Twisted To Pay When Liable: Supreme Court Raps Delhi Government Again For Incomplete Funding Of RRTS Project

Stating that "you have to be arm twisted to give the money which you are liable to pay", the Supreme Court today once again expressed dissatisfaction with the Delhi Government's failure to fully adhere to its previous directive regarding the transfer of funds for the construction of the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) project that will connect the national capital with Rajasthan and Haryana with the overarching goal of mitigating congestion and implementing effective Air Pollution Control measures in Delhi and NCR.

The Bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia was considering the application filed by the National Capital Regional Transport Corporation Ltd. on account of the alleged gross breach of directions passed by the Apex Court on April 21, 2023, and the assurance given to the Court on behalf of the Delhi State Government. 

On the last date of hearing, noting the breach of the undertaking by the Delhi Government, the Court directed that funds allocated for advertisement purposes should be transferred to the project in question. However, at the request of the Counsel appearing for the Delhi Government, the Court kept the order in abeyance for a period of one week and stated that if the funds were not transferred, the order would come into operation.

Today, upon being asked about the compliance of the earlier order and whether the fund was transferred, the Court was apprised that the Delhi Government has partially allotted the funds.  "I am concerned with compliance with our orders, have you paid or not?", asked Justice Kaul.

Appearing for the Delhi Government, Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora clarified that 415 crores have been transferred. Further, Senior Advocate ANS Nadkarni stated, "On the last date, your lordships said if the funds are not transferred the order will come into operation."

Noting the partial compliance of the orders, Justice Kaul remarked, "At your request, we ultimately kept the order in abeyance for a week for you to comply with the assurance that you had given to the Court. Now tell us the document by which you have compiled with it." Continuing, Justice Kaul stated, "We don't know why we have to spend time in all this. We were earlier attaching it. Then you said no-no, please give us 2 months time and we will do it. Then even 2 months passed. Not even any extension of time was obtained."

The Court was further apprised that the order was passed in the month of July and it has been 4 months since then. Arora further stated that the funds were released by the Government on Friday.

The Court accordingly ordered, "Learned counsel for the Delhi Government states that the amount of Rs. 415 crores has been released as per the sanction order dated 24.11.2023, but it may not have been credited to the account of NCRTC. However, the sanction order itself states that it is 'partial compliance'. There can be no question of partial compliance and complete compliance must take place as per the schedule. List on 7th December."

Amicus Curiae Aparajita Singh stated, "They keep complaining about pollution, but they don't contribute to any solution." On which, Justice Kaul further orally remarked to the Delhi Government, "You have to be arm twisted to give the money which you are liable to pay.. that is the problem. You can make budgetary provisions for 550 crores for advertisement but you can't make budgetary provisions for 400 odd crores which you were supposed to make." 

The Court accordingly ordered the matter to be posted on December 7, 2023. The Court had earlier directed the AAP government to file an affidavit enumerating details of its advertisement funds for 3 years after the Delhi government told the bench that there was a paucity of funds and expressed an inability to provide monetary assistance.

The details before the Court showed that the three years’ budget provisions are almost Rs.1100 crores and the budget for the current financial year was about Rs.550 crores. The Court had accordingly noted that if Rs. 1100 Crores can be spent as a budget for the last three financial years, certainly a contribution can be made to the infrastructural projects.

"The budgetary provision is something which the State Government should look into. But if such national projects are to be affected and against that money is spent on advertisement, we would have been inclined to direct those funds to be transferred to this project", stated the Court in its order.