The Kerala government has approached the Supreme Court against a proposal by the Airport Authority of India to grant the right of operation, management and development of Thiruvananthapuram Airport to Adani Enterprises Limited for a period of 50 years.
On Thursday, a bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant put the matter for consideration next week.
The CPM-led government questioned the validity of the high court's refusal on December 18, 2019, to entertain a writ petition filed by it on the ground that the dispute was related to the Centre and the State and it should have been raised before the top court.
In its special leave petition, the Kerala government contended a suit under Article 131 was permitted only if the dispute was exclusively between the Centre and a State government.
The AAI here does not qualify to be called a ‘State’ under the Article, so a suit under Article 131 cannot be filed in the Supreme Court, the state government contended.
It also maintained that handing over the airport to Adani Enterprises Limited, having no previous experience in managing airports, was “not in public interest and is violative of the provisions of the Airport Authority of India Act of 1994 as well as the proprietary rights of the State Government as regards the land wherein the Thiruvananthapuram Airport is situated”.
(Published 20 February 2020, 14:25 IST)
JOIN US