Supreme Court pulls up Delhi govt, sets 1 week deadline for funds transfer to RRTS

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up Aam Aamdi party (AAP) led Delhi government over failure to abide by its assurance on allocating funds for the Regional Rapid Rail Transit System Project (RRTS).

The Apex Court took strong exception to AAP govt’s mega advertisement budget for the year and directed it to channel its entire ad budget to RRTS to Panipat & Alwar.

The court has however kept the order in abeyance and given a one-week ultimatum to the government to follow & implement the same, else it may be ‘prompted to order the same’.

The court agreed for a one-week deadline after the counsel for Delhi govt sought week’s time to revert with government instructions on it.

The Apex court said that the RRTS project was very crucial for containing air pollution in capital and hence, it must not be stalled at any cost.

“Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said that the advertising budget of the Delhi government for the last three years was Rs 1,100 crore and it is Rs 550 crore for this year alone,” said a report.

In a strongly worded reminder, the SC also said that if govt fails to transfer the money to RRTS authorities in stipulated time, the same would be re-directed from AAP govt’s advertisement budget for the year.

The matter came to court after National Capital Regional Transport Corporation (NCRTC) moved a plea, alleging that Delhi government didn’t pay the dues to RRTS despite giving an undertaking to this effect.
The matter is listed for next hearing on November 28.

In July, the Supreme Court had given the Delhi government two months to clear the dues for the Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System.