The Supreme Court on Friday remanded to the Kerala High Court the state government’s petition challenging the AAI proposal to grant the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport’s management rights to the Adani group.
A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde heard the submissions on behalf of the Kerala government and other parties and decided to send the dispute for adjudication back to the high court.
The bench said the contention with regard to applicability of Article 131 will remain open for further hearing if needed.
The Kerala government had moved the high court and then the apex court against the proposal of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) to grant management and operation rights of the airport to the Adani Enterprises Limited for the next 50 years.
The Kerala High Court had on December 18 last year dismissed the plea filed by the State “as not maintainable” and said that the question raised in the petition has to be decided by the Supreme Court under Article 131 of the Constitution of India.
The State alleged before the high court that attempt on the part of AAI to grant right of operation, management and development of Thiruvananthapuram airport to a private party, “who has no previous experience in managing airports”, was not in public interest and was violative of the provisions of the Airport Authority of India Act, 1994 among others.