The Supreme Court on Friday left it to the Kerala High Court (HC) to decide the merits of the Airports Authority of India's 'request for proposal' to grant the right of operation, management and development of the Thiruvananthapuram international airport to Adani Enterprises Limited.
"We are sending it back," a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde observed.
The HC had on December 18 last concluded that the State’s writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution was not maintainable before it. The AAI proposal was essentially an implementation of the Central policy. The dispute was between the State and the Centre. Only the Supreme Court has the jurisdiction in such disputes. Kerala ought to directly file a suit under Article 131 in the Supreme Court, the HC had advised.
State’s stance
Challenging this conclusion, the State contended in the Supreme Court that the AAI is a necessary party in this dispute. Though it is a government policy, it is the AAI which has to prepare the lease. The lease for turning over the airport to the Adani company would be bad in law without the participation of the AAI. The State dismissed the idea of filing a direct suit in the Supreme Court under Article 131.
However, the Supreme Court now left open the issue whether the dispute comes under Article 131.
The Kerala government contended that a suit under Article 131 is permitted only if the dispute is exclusively between the Centre and a State government. The AAI does not qualify to be called a ‘State’ under the Article. Hence, a suit under Article 131 cannot be filed in the Supreme Court. So, only a writ petition under Article 226 would lie, Kerala argued.
The State contended that handing over the airport to Adani Enterprises Limited, which has no previous experience in managing airports, is “not in public interest and is violative of the provisions of the Airports Authority of India Act of 1994 and the proprietary rights of the State government as regards the land wherein the Thiruvananthapuram airport is situated”.
