New Delhi: The civil aviation ministry has rejected a proposal by the Delhi International Airport Pvt. Ltd, or DIAL, the operator of New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, to charge an additional passenger fee from passengers beginning January after the law ministry said it was not permissible to impose such a fee for now, according to a civil aviation ministry official, who did not wish to be named.

The law ministry is of the view that the privatization agreement, also known as the operations management and development agreement, between DIAL and the Union government signed in 2006 does not permit such a charge, this official said.

DIAL had sought to levy Rs300 as a so-called airport development fee on each outbound domestic passenger, besides Rs1,000 each on those flying international routes for a period starting January 2009 until December 2011.

Such a passenger fee alone will likely result in revenues of over Rs1,400 crore which can be used to fund airport expansion, as reported by Mint last month. The views of the law ministry were sought by the aviation ministry.