Minister in charge of Civil Aviation K Babu told ‘Express’ that he had received the resignation letter of Kannur International Airport Limited (KIAL) Managing Director V Thulasidas. “A decision to accept it or not will be taken in the KIAL director board meeting scheduled to be held on Tuesday evening,” he said.
The deal between KIAL and the consultancy company STUP came under a cloud after it was found that the latter had been blacklisted in Gujarat and by the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board. It was alleged that the consultancy agreement of STUP Consultants was found to have violated Request for Proposal conditions. The Kochi-based Mir Projects and Consultants, a rival contender, had approached the High Court of Kerala seeking cancellation of the contract. It had alleged that the award of the contract to a consortium of STUP Consultants violated the tender requirement that bidders should not be blacklisted by any agency.
However, KIAL took the stand that the consultancy company was competent enough to handle the assignment. The High Court proceeded to issue notices to the Kerala Government and KIAL and has posted the case for further hearing.
Following this, the airport company’s agreement with the blacklisted company was cancelled. The state government had also raised queries as to how the consultancy deal was approved by KIAL. Thulasidas, who had a long stint as Chairman and Managing Director of India’s national carrier, Air India, was not available for comment.