The Supreme Court of India has directed the Delhi government to contribute ₹500 crores ($67 million) from the Environment Compensation Charge (ECC) fund towards the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor connecting Delhi to Meerut. The court has asked the Delhi government to make the contribution within 10 days.

The 82.15-kilometer semi-high speed rail track would link Delhi and Meerut, and its projected price is 31,632 crores. The corridor, which has 24 stops, will take 60 minutes to travel from Modipuram, Meerut, to Sarai Kale Khan, in Delhi.

A bench of Justices S K Kaul and A Amanullah asked the Centre's counsel to obtain instructions with regard to Delhi-Alwar RRTS corridor after the Supreme Court was informed that approval of the central government is awaited.

The court further instructed the lawyer representing the Delhi government to seek approval for the Delhi-Panipat RRTS corridor.

Senior attorney Aparajita Singh informed the bench that the Delhi-Alwar and Delhi-Panipat corridors are both awaiting approval from the Centre and the Delhi government, respectively. Ms. Singh is assisting the court as an amicus curia in a pollution-related case in which the issue of RRTS has come up.

Ms Singh told the bench the Delhi government has moved an application for a grant of ₹ 500 crores from the ECC fund, in which around ₹ 1,100 crores was lying, for the Delhi-Meerut RRTS corridor.

The Delhi-Meerut RRTS corridor is expected to be completed in 2025, according to senior advocate A N S Nadkarni, who is representing the NCRTC, the organisation in charge of the project. The Supreme Court noted in its March 2019 order that the Delhi government's contribution to the corridor is $1,138 crore.

The bench noted in its order passed on Monday that the amicus, while referring to the March 2019 order, has no objection to releasing of ₹ 500 crores on the same terms and conditions as set out in the 2019 order.

"We accordingly direct the Delhi government to contribute ₹ 500 crores from ECC funds within 10 days," the bench said.

The top court also took note of the NCRTC's counsel's argument that the Delhi government would need to allocate extra 400 crores rupees (or more) in budgetary funds for the corridor.

In order to prevent the project from stalling, the bench urged the Delhi government to make the necessary budgetary allocation, if it has not already done so.

The Delhi-Alwar and Delhi-Panipat corridor disputes have been referred to the bench for an additional hearing in July.

Image source: ANI