Why Spend ₹500 Crore If No Flights? MP High Court Questions State For Neglecting Jabalpur Airport

The Madhya Pradesh High Court today slammed the state government for 'second-handed treatment' of Jabalpur, in respect of its flight connectivity to other major cities.

The division bench of Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf was hearing a petition filed by Nagrik Upbhokta Margdarshak Manch, highlighting that despite spending nearly ₹500 crores on upgrading the Jabalpur airport, many flights from the city have been discontinued.

"Why did you spend so much money? It got less flights than Rewa. Rewa, there is no facility with more flights; Jabalpur has only what 5 flights a day. Why did you spend all this money?" the judges orally asked the State.

The State counsel then placed on record a Request for Proposal (RFP) floated by the Directorate of Aviation, calling upon airline operators to provide direct flight connectivity from airports in the State to domestic and international destinations.

However, the Court noted that the RFP is not Jabalpur-specific and in fact, the tender was mostly for flights to and from Indore. It thus slammed the State for its second-hand treatment with Jabalpur, orally stating,

"We will order transfer flights from Bhopal and Indore to Jabalpur. We will mandate. Why is Jabalpur sitting getting a second-hand treatment, just because there is no principal seat of administration over here? A conscious decision was taken to have a principal seat at Bhopal with the judicial seat at Jabalpur. Jabalpur gets a second preference, why? Why should Bhopal have so many flights? We will shift everything here. We will stop entertaining any officer who was stationed in Bhopal for our matters, and we want them stationed here; then your connectivity will improve!"

Upon the State's prayer for time to seek instructions, the court orally stated,

"How much time? This has been pending for so long. 20-23 times this petition is listed, no steps have been taken. You give us a rosy picture, RFP Floated. Jabalpur is not in it. Delhi (as a proposed destination) is not in it."

It has now directed the State to convene a joint meeting of all stakeholders to address the issue.

Currently, only IndiGo airlines is operating at the Jabalpur airport. The Court had previously asked its parent company Interglobe Aviation to submit suggestions to the State and Central governments on the enhancement of flight connectivity to make it commercially or otherwise viable.

Today, Advocate Siddharth Sharma appearing for the airline submitted that they propose to increase two day-time flights from November onwards. However, the Court noted that the airline already operates two flights during the day— which do not meet timing preference of businesses.

"There is a flight that is starting in November, probably to cater to the tourist season, and then after the tourist season is over, it will go because it does not cater to business people or professionals, who want to go in the morning or evening. You have two flights from November, and if you time them in a fashion that it is before the opening of office hours and after the closure of office hours... make one morning and one in the evening that will cater to all, including tourists," the judges suggested.

The matter will now be heard on November 06.

Case Title: Nagrik Upbhokta Margdarshak Manch & Ors v. Union Of India & Ors, WP No. 14563 of 2024

Counsel For Petitioner: Senior Advocate Aditya Sanghi and Advocate Dinesh Kumar Upadhyay

Counsel For State: Deputy Advocate General Vivek Sharma

Counsel For Airport Authority: Senior Advocate Anoop Nair and Advocate Mihir Linawat

Counsel For Air India: Advocate Kunal Thakre

Counsel For Inter Globe Aviation Limited: Advocate Siddharth Sharma

Counsel For Akasa Airlines: Advocates Vatsala Poddar and Shouryendra Ray