)
Even as the dates for request for quotation (RFQ) for the Ahmedabad airport privatisation gets postponed to mid January 2014, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) Employees' Union (AAIEU) is planning to take the legal route while continuing to protest.
The Ahmedabad branch union has been in consultation with lawyers and is planning to file a petition with the Gujarat High Court against the Ministry of Civil Aviation for not following the prescribed procedure of involving the union in the decision to privatise the airport.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation has put up six airports including the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (SVP) International Airport in Ahmedabad for privatisation and has invited RFQs from interested private parties in mid January 2014. However, the employees' union at the Ahmedabad branch along with those at five other airports including Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Jaipur and Guwahati, have been protesting against the move.
However, the decision to file a petition with the Gujarat High Court against the Ministry of Civil Aviation finds teeth in the recently received answers to an RTI application by the union members with the Key Infrastructure Development (KID) department which has taken up the privatisation process of airports."We had made an RTI application a month ago with KID seeking to know the process that has been followed in privatising the airports. In 2005, after the privatisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports, the union had demanded its involvement and protested against privatisation, following which a tri-party committee was set up involving the ministry, AAI board members and the AAI employees' union," a senior AAIEU official at the SVP airport in Ahmedabad said on condition of anonymity.
The official stated that the ministry had then agreed to take this tri-party committee into confidence in the matters of modernisation of airports. "However, the RTI responses have revealed that the ministry has bypassed the AAI board as well as the union in the recent move," said a senior union member at the SVP airport on condition of anonymity," he added. Hence, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) Ahmedabad employees' union is now planning to file a petition in the Gujarat High Court against the Ministry of Civil Aviation for bypassing a tri-party committee that was set up between the ministry, AAI board and the employees' union. However, while on one hand the union is protesting against privatisation of the airport, it is also demanding wage norms as per the government's pay commission if the privatisation takes place despite protests.
"We don't understand why the central government is privatising Ahmedabad airport since it is one of the few profit making as well as the second largest airport after Mumbai in the western region. However, since the privatisation is inevitable, we are trying to make our demands clear," a senior AAI official at the SVP airport had told Business Standard earlier.
The SVP International Airport in Ahmedabad earns a Rs 100 crore profit annually with almost 100 domestic and international flights running daily from here.
Apart from compensation packages of Pay Commission standards, the employees are also demanding retention policies. "Future pay commission should apply to us. Our compensation packages should be as per government rules even after privatisation. Also, AAI service terms and conditions should remain as it is for us. For instance, all the AAI employees should be retained and allowed to complete full service of 60 years of age. We are hoping these conditions will be met before the bidding process start," the official had added.
