Nagpur Intl Airport handover: Ministry refers it to Cabinet

The civil aviation ministry has refused to hand over Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport in Nagpur to the newly formed joint venture company between the Maharashtra government and the ministry throwing a damper over aspirations of investors in the ambitious Multimodal International Hub Airport and Nagpur (MIHAN) project.

The multi-crore project, being developed by Maharashtra Airport Development Company Limited (MADC), has several investors who are waiting for this handover before committing themselves.

The matter is now in the court where a local NGO, Vidarbha Economic Development Council, has filed a public interest litigation demanding the reasons for the delay in the handover.

Replying to a notice by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court, the civil aviation ministry had, at first, given an assurance of ensuring smooth transfer of the airport and employees of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to the new joint venture. However, it failed to give a time frame in which the operation would be completed.

Now, on the court's demand for a time frame, the ministry has in a detailed affidavit expressed its inability to spell out any such time limit and maintained that it required the Union Cabinet's nod for the same. It has stated that the transfer was a "policy matter beyond the scope of judicial review".

Earlier, additional solicitor general, Amrendra Saran, had promised to "bring good news" and urged the court for three months to complete the exercise.

The high court had granted six weeks to complete the necessary formalities and observed that "the government may have numerous difficulties, granting such a long time and delay in the project will ultimately not be in the public interest".

The court however, took a generous view on the issue and indicated that two weeks extra time would be granted to the ministry to complete the task at hand.

The eight weeks end on December 11 but the ministry has already filed an affidavit stating it requires more time for getting necessary approvals and clarifications from various government departments and ministries. It stated that after inviting suggestions and objections it will compile a detailed note and forward it to the Cabinet for further action.

The ministry has pointed out that the Union Cabinet is the lone authority with powers to decide on the handing over of assets owned by the Government of India.