The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the Kerala Government’s petition challenging the Airport Authority of India’s (AAI) decision to lease out the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport to Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL).
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India U U Lalit and Justice Bela M Trivedi dismissed the special leave petition against the Kerala High Court’s order that upheld the lease in October 2020. The apex court also dismissed a similar petition filed by some airport staff who are part of the employees union. The bench noted that a state-owned entity, the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) had participated in the bid when the Central government opened the bid to privatise the airport in the state capital. The PSU participated in the bid after the discussion between the state and the Central government.
The High Court had rejected the State’s petition after noting that KSIDC’s bid (per passenger fee of Rs 135) was lower than what was quoted by AEL. The airport was leased out for 50 years. Five more airports – – Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Mangalore, Jaipur and Guwahati – were privatised in 2019 and the Centre used the per-passenger fee method to select the winning bidder.
Rejecting the employees’ challenge that their service conditions would be affected by the private entity’s takeover of the airport, the Court noted that the employees were given an option to switch to airports under the Airports Authority of India (AAI) or to stay with the private bidder. “Considering these facts, as well as the fact that the private entity has been in operation since October 2021, we see no reason to interfere. Accordingly, these petitions are dismissed”, the bench noted in the order.
However, the bench clarified that it has left open the issue raised by the State Government relating to the ownership of the land. The State argued that the land belongs to it, whereas the AAI contended that the ownership vests with it. Senior Advocate Chander Uday Singh appeared for Kerala and Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj appeared for the AAI.
