The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed petitions filed by Kerala’s Left Democratic Front (LDF) government and some employee unions challenging the leasing out of the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL).

Rejecting appeals against the Kerala High Court’s October 19, 2020, decision upholding the leasing out, a bench of Chief Justice of India Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice Bela M Trivedi rejected the state’s contention that the bid was tailor-made to suit the winning side.

The bench stated, “considering the fact that the private entity has been in operation since October 2021, we see no reason to entertain the special leave petition. Thus, the appeal stands dismissed”.

The court, however, clarified in its brief order that the question regarding ownership of land on which the airport is situated would remain open.

The SC said that the HC had noted that the Centre had considered “with all seriousness” the Kerala government’s proposal and offered it the right of first refusal in favour of any entity in which it has 26% equity participation on a prescribed range of 10% of the maximum bid.

The SC said the state-owned Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation participated in the bid. “The bid of AEL was Rs168 per domestic passenger while that of KSIDC was Rs135 per domestic passenger — less by almost 20%,” the SC observed.

The appeal filed by the state government challenged the action of AAI in preferring Adani over state government’s Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) for operations and management of the Thiruvananthapuram airport.

The plea said that the decision was not in the public interest and that the entire proceedings, including the tender process, was vitiated by malafides, besides being in violation of the provisions of the Airports Authority of India Act, 1994, since Adani Enterprises had no previous experience in managing airports.

The agreement was also in breach of the proprietary rights of the state government as regards the land on which the Thiruvananthapuram airport is situated, the petition added.

Image source: Hindustan Times