Adani Group’s Thiruvananthapuram airport will remain, SC dismisses Kerala government’s plea.

The Kerala government has suffered a major setback. The Supreme Court had dismissed the Kerala government’s plea, upholding the Airport Authority of India’s (AAI) decision to lease out Thiruvananthapuram International Airport to Adani Enterprises Limited. AAI had in February last year granted permission to the Adani Group to operate, manage and develop the airport for a period of 50 years. The Kerala High Court had already dismissed this petition. A bench of Chief Justice UU Lalit and Justice Bela M Trivedi gave this verdict.

Earlier this matter had reached the Kerala High Court. Then Justices K Vinod Chandran and CS Dias said that they cannot interfere in the policy decision of the Central Government. The Kerala government had reached the Supreme Court against this. The Kerala government claimed that the rules for the proposal were made to suit private companies. The court rejected that argument. The Center said there was nothing wrong with the auction process. Apart from this special benefit was given to KSIDC (Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation) on the request of the state.

Adani Group won the bid last year

In October last year, the airport was handed over to the Adani Group. The company won the bid in 2019 by announcing Rs 168 per passenger to AII. KSIDC also participated in the bid but lost to Adani Group’s bid. The then Union Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri said that it was wrong to oppose the takeover after losing the bid. Chief Minister Vijayan had said last year that the state has been opposing the move for the last two years. I have written to PM Modi twice. Yet it was handed over to a private institution, ignoring the state’s opposition.