Kerala moves HC against Centre decision to lease out Thiruvananthapuram airport

Kerala government filed a plea in High Court, seeking a stay on the Union Cabinet's decision to hand over operations and supervision of Thiruvananthapuram airport through Public-Private Partnership (PPP).

The petition will be heard on Monday.

"The decision to lease out the airport under the PPP model for 50 years comes at a time when a petition against it is pending in the Kerala High Court," read the plea of the Kerala government.

Earlier, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention to reconsider the decision to "hand over the management and operation of the Trivandrum International Airport to a private bidder".

The Union Cabinet accorded its approval for leasing of three AAI airports - Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram - for operation, management and development to Adani Enterprises Ltd, who was declared as the successful bidder in global competitive bidding conducted by the Airports Authority of India, for 50 years.