Tata Sons, AirAsia face legal challenge in SC over grant of aviation permits
1 min read . Updated: 27 Oct 2016, 12:13 PM IST
PremiumThe Federation of Indian Airlines moved the Supreme Court challenging the grant of aviation permits to Tata Sons and Malaysia-based Air Asia
New Delhi: The Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), an industry body for airlines, moved the Supreme Court on Thursday challenging the grant of aviation permits to Tata Sons and Malaysia-based Air Asia.
The lawyer appearing for FIA alleged that the agreement between Tata Sons and Air Asia is fraudulent and in contravention to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) rules and must be cancelled.
“Agreement places effective control in the hands of a foreign party," senior advocate Dushyant Dave argued on behalf of the FIA.
A public interest litigation filed by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy, on similar grounds is pending before the Delhi high court since 2014.
A special bench was constituted but no hearings have taken place since then.
The plea seeks quashing of approvals being granted by the centre to operationalize the $30 million deal between Tata Sons-AirAsia and Tata Sons-SIA Airlines deals.
Tata-SIA Airlines Ltd is a joint venture between the Tata group and Singapore-based SIA Airlines and Tata-AirAsia is a joint venture between Tata Sons and AirAsia.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had, however, told the high court that the that Foreign Investment Promotion Board, the authority to decide FDI related disputes, has cleared the deal.
