Awarding of Kerala airport subject to high court decision: Hardeep Singh Puri
The Kerala govt moved high court seeking a stay on leasing out of the Trivandrum International Airport
The Union cabinet has given its go-ahead to award the Thiruvananthapuram airport to the Adani Group subject to the outcome of a petition before the Kerala high court filed by the state government, civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Friday.
The state government on Friday filed an appeal in the high court seeking a stay on all further proceedings following the Centre’s order awarding a 50-year lease to Adani Enterprises Ltd to operate, manage and develop the Trivandrum International Airport.
“If the petitioners succeed and the outcome of litigation leads to annulment/cancellation of the bidding process then the concessionaire will hand over the possession of the airport to AAI (Airports Authority of India). They will be entitled to refund the amount paid to AAI and additional investments made in the assets,” Puri said in a statement. “The Concessionaire will also not demand any damage from AAI. Here, it should be borne in mind, that these airports will come back to AAI after the lease period of 50 years.”
The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Kerala government has asked the Centre to reconsider its decision to award the state-owned AAI-operated airport at Thiruvananthapuram to Adani group on a 50-year-lease.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the Centre’s decision was in contravention to assurances given by the ministry of civil aviation in 2003, which said the Centre would factor in the contributions made by the state government for the development of the Thiruvananthapuram airport.
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First Published:21 Aug 2020, 10:53 PM IST
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