The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the Kerala government’s petition against the takeover of the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport by Adani Enterprises, as per a 50-year concessionaire agreement the company entered into with the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
“Considering the fact that private entity has been in operation since October 2021, we see no reason to entertain the special leave petition. Thus, the appeal stands dismissed,” said a bench of Chief Justice of India Uday Umesh Lalit and justice Bela M Trivedi, rejecting the state’s appeal against the October 2020 judgment of the Kerala high court.
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 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 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.
{{/usCountry}}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.
{{/usCountry}}The airport was handed over to the Adani Group in October last year; the company won a bidding process held in 2019 by quoting ₹168 as the per-passenger fee payable to the AAI. The KSIDC participated in the bidding but lost to the Adani Group’s bid.
In October 2020, the Kerala high court had rejected the state’s challenge to the central government’s decision to lease out the Thiruvananthapuram airport to Adani.
The Kerala government claimed many clauses in the request for proposal (RFP) were tailor-made to suit private firms, while the Centre had told the high court that the tender was carried out in a transparent manner. Satisfied with the Centre’s justifications, the high court had affirmed the agreement between the AAI and Adani.