The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the Kerala government’s petition challenging the Centre’s decision to hand over the operations of Thiruvananthapuram International Airport to the Adani group.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India UU Lalit reasoned that the bid offered by the Adani Enterprises Ltd. for every domestic passenger was ₹168, that is, 20 per cent above the ₹135-offer given by the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation.

The court also noted that the private entity had already taken over “operation, management, and development” of the airport from the Airport Authority of India (AAI) since October 2021.

The Bench noted that the employees were given the choice to either stay with the AAI or switch over to the service of the private entity.

At Kerala’s request, the court kept open the issue of State ownership of the airport land.

Kerala’s allegation

The State had alleged that preference was given by the Centre to a private concessionaire like Adani, which has no experience in the field of managing airports and smacks of arbitrariness.

“Running an airport is not like running any other entity. It requires a tremendous amount of experience, expertise, and knowledge gained through experience,” Chief Justice Lalit orally remarked during the hearing.

It asked the Centre, represented by Additional Solicitor General KM Natraj, whether it was not prudent to have made experience one of the parameters.

The government said the policy and conditions were fine-tuned after several consultations.

In its appeal, the State, represented by senior advocates CU Singh and CK Sasi, argued that the Kerala High Court had favoured the handover of the vital facility to a private entity, though such a move was not in the interest of better management of the airport.

The entire proceeding, including the tender process, was in violation of the provisions of the Airport Authority of India Act, 1994, the State had said.

The concession was given to the Adani group despite a proposal from the Kerala government to form a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to run the airport on a revenue-sharing basis, the appeal said.

Singh argued that the State had experience running airports through its various organisations

“The Kochi International Airport at Nedumbasserry, Ernakulam, Kerala, which is being operated by Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), a State government sponsored company, is one of the leading airports the world over,” the appeal said.

The State also referred to the Kannur International Airport.

“This airport has the most modern and state-of-the-art aviation, other passenger and cargo facilities, which are being operated by Kannur International Airport Limited (KIAL), another State government-sponsored company, which has become operational and is making steadfast progress,” the appeal had said.

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