High Court dismisses Kerala plea against airport lease to Adani group

Mangalore Today News Network

Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi, Oct 19, 2020: The Kerala High Court today dismissed the state government’s petition against the Adani group managing Thiruvananthapuram International Airport.

 

The state government had filed an application against the Central government’s decision to lease out the airport to Adani Enterprises. The plea followed an all-party-meeting in the state demanding the withdrawal of the Union Cabinet’s decision on this front.

Earlier the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, formed to participate in the bid for the airport’s lease and maintenance, had lost out to Adani Enterprises by a relatively narrow margin of Rs16 per passenger. The GMR Group was the third bidder.

Thiruvananthapuram International Airport was among the six such facilities for which the Adani group had won the lease in February 2019 for 50 years. The bids were invited by the Airports Authority of India for a public-private partnership (PPP) model of operation based on fees per domestic passengers.

While the opposition to Adani taking charge apparently comes from both the dominant political groups in the state - the Left Democratic Front and the Congress-led United Democratic Front - Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, a parliamentarian from Thiruvananthapuram, has backed the central government’s PPP model for the facility.   

The Kerala government had last year opposed the bid to privatise the airport. It formed KSIDC only after the Kerala High Court dismissed the state’s petition. The state then approached the Supreme Court, which while setting aside the High Court’s decision, remanded the case back to be decided based on merit.

On August 25, the Kerala High Court once again declined to stay the proceedings, adjourning the case for detailed hearing according to the Supreme Court’s instructions.

 

courtesy: NDTV