THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Supreme Court decision to remand back to the Kerala High Court, the state government and Airport Authority Employees’ Union (AAEU) petitions, challenging the Airport Authority of India (AAI) proposal to grant the Trivandrum International Airport’s management rights to the Adani Group, has upset the plans of Adani Enterprises Ltd to take over control of six airports in the country from April.
Adani Group was pressing ahead with the plan to wrest control of six airports from the next fiscal. It had signed three concession agreements with the AAI for Operations, Management & Development of Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru Airports in PPP mode two weeks ago.
Though Adani had won the bid for the six airports in February 2019, it had been delaying the takeover of the airport after a slew of petitions were filed before various courts in the country challenging the bidding, especially with regard to Trivandrum, Jaipur and Guwahati Airports.
Simultaneously, the AAI has been extending the validity of bids for three months after it expired on July 31 at the request of Adani. The last time it was extended on January 31, 2020 and the validity will end on April 30.
From December onwards, Adani Group has been preparing to take over the three airports for which it had signed an MoU with the AAI in April and it has even recruited staff to run the three airports.
In the case of Trivandrum Airport, Kerala High Court had on December 18, 2019, dismissed the plea filed by the employees’ union and state after terming it ‘ not maintainable’.
Further, it stated that the question raised in the petition has to be decided by the Supreme Court under Article 131 of the Constitution.
So they have been harbouring hopes of taking over the Trivandrum Airport at the earliest along with other airports.
Now, with the Supreme Court remanding back to the High Court the pleas regarding Trivandrum Airport, it is almost certain that the fate of Trivandrum, Guwahati and Jaipur Airport will not be decided before the formal takeover of the three airports for which the MoU was signed.
It is a prolonged legal battle that awaits the Trivandrum Airport.
Though the case pertaining to Trivandrum will be disposed of at a later stage, in all likelihood the high court decision will be challenged before the Supreme Court if the verdict is against the interests of Kerala.
Similarly, the Guwahati High Court is scheduled to hear the case related to Guwahati Airport in March and even if the high court disposes of the petition in March, it might be challenged before the Supreme Court if the verdict is against the interest of employees and state there.
Similarly, the Congress government in Rajasthan has informed the Centre that it will not allow privatisation of Jaipur Airport.
So it’s choppy waters ahead for the winning concessionaire of the airports. There has been widespread criticism right from the beginning that it was a tailor-made ‘request for proposal’ and ‘tendering’ suited for Adani to win the game even before the bidding.
S Ajith Kumar, branch secretary, Airport Authority Employees’ Union (AAEU), said, “We will fight tooth and nail the move to privatise the Trivandrum Airport and ensure it remains in the public sector for which the state had provided land and made significant investments over the years.”
Turbulence
Kerala High Court had on December 18, 2019, dismissed the plea filed by the employees and state ‘as not maintainable’, stating that the question raised in the petition has to be decided by the Supreme Court under Article 131 of the Constitution.
The state has been contenting that granting the right of TVM airport to a private entity having no previous experience in manning airports was not in public interest and violated the provisions of the Airport Authority of India Act, 1994.
The Supreme Court breather comes on the 456th day of the strike being carried out by the employees in protest against the privatisation of the airport.
Trivandrum airport was established in 1932 on 258.06 acres provided by the erstwhile princely state of Travancore, of which the state is the successor.