Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Airports Authority's Curative Petition Against Judgment Upholding GMR's Rights Over Nagpur Airport

The Supreme Court on Friday (February 9) agreed to hear a curative petition filed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) against the multinational conglomerate GMR Group concerning the operational management of Nagpur's Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport.Deeming the case worthy of a comprehensive review before arriving at any conclusive decision, a special bench of four judges, led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and including Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, and JK Maheshwari directed the hearing of the petition to be listed after two weeks.During today's hearing, the union government emphasised its pivotal role in airport affairs falling under its jurisdiction, asserting that it had been unjustly excluded from previous legal deliberations. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta underscored the indispensability of the union's involvement in cases pertaining to airport operations, in defence of the request to reopen the case. Conversely, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhavi, representing GMR Group, pointed to the government's substantial stake in MIHAN to argue that it was adequately represented in prior legal proceedings."We will list it for a more detailed consideration," Chief Justice Chandrachud said after hearing the submissions of the parties. Accordingly, he pronounced -"During the course of the hearing, it has been urged by the Airports Authority of India and the union government that the curative petition would meet the parameters spelt out in this court's judgment in Rupa Ashok Hurra since the judgment of the high court, which has been affirmed by this court, has arrived at conclusions and findings without either the AAI or the Union being impleaded as parties to the proceedings [despite] having a vital stake...The respondent, on the other hand, has pointed out that the curative petition does not meet the Rupa Hurra parameters. It has been urged that AAI, which has a 26 percent shareholding in MIHAN, was before the high court and duly heard. We are of the considered view that all aspects should be deferred to a hearing, including on the question of merits. We accordingly direct that the proceedings be listed after two weeks on a miscellaneous day so that parties can be heard before a final conclusion is arrived at this by court."BackgroundThe genesis of this legal dispute is a Bombay High Court ruling upholding GMR's right to operate the airport, a decision that was affirmed by the Supreme Court in May 2022. Subsequently, the AAI attempted to challenge this verdict by filing a review petition which was dismissed in May last year.The heart of the matter revolves around the Nagpur Multimodal International Hub Airport (MIHAN) project, designed to transform the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport into a pivotal air cargo and passenger hub. GMR secured the operation rights initially, emerging as the highest bidder. However, later concerns arose regarding the revenue-sharing arrangement, particularly in light of the civil aviation ministry's apprehensions about MIHAN's low revenue realisation despite registering a significant profit in the subsequent fiscal year and projections of substantial passenger volume growth.In response, GMR attributed the surge in the profit to an increase in the user development fee for improving passenger facilities. Yet, the impasse persisted, leading to GMR seeking court intervention for contract enforcement. However, before the court could adjudicate the matter, the state government in March 2020 invalidated the contract based on the recommendation of its Project Monitoring and Implementation Committee (PMIC), headed by the chief secretary.Accordingly, by a March 2020 communication, the award granted to GMR Airports for upgrading and the operation of the airport was cancelled. However, in a major relief to the multinational conglomerate company, the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court in August 2021 quashed a this communication issued by MIHAN, a joint venture between Maharashtra Airport Development Company and the Airports Authority of India, calling it 'arbitrary' and 'unfair'.This verdict by a division bench of Justices Sunil Shukre and Anil Kilor was upheld by a Supreme Court bench of Justices Vineet Saran and JK Maheshwari. Dismissing MIHAN's appeal, the top court in May 2022 held that the high court verdict contained sound reasoning and did not warrant interference. Last year, a review petition was also dismissed, with a bench of Justices Krishna Murari and JK Maheshwari noting, "We do not find any error in the order impugned, much less an apparent error on the face of the record, so as to call for its review. The review petition is, accordingly, dismissed."BackgroundAirports Authority of India v. GMR Airports Limited & Anr. | Curative Petition (Civil) No. 198 of 2022Click Here To Read/Download Order

Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Airports Authority's Curative Petition Against Judgment Upholding GMR's Rights Over Nagpur Airport

Awstika Das

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