Kochi, Oct 19 (IANS) The Kerala government suffered a big setback on Monday after the High Court dismissed their plea against Centre’s move to lease out the Thiruvananthapuram international airport to Adani Enterprises.
In its plea, the Kerala government has said the decision to lease out the airport for 50 years under the PPP model to Adani was not a proper deal.
The court ruled that the deal was fair and the Kerala government was given concessions and it also took part in the tender process, but Adani had won at the end.
The Pinarayi Vijayan government in August had called an all party meeting and decided to prevent the transfer deal from getting realised at any cost.
Vijayan also had written twice to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking cancellation of the deal. He has demanded that the Kerala government, which runs two airports — Cochin and Kannur, be given the right to operate the Thiruvananthapuram airport also.
In Kerala, barring the BJP and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, other political parties, including the CPI-M and the Congress have strongly opposed this deal.
In February 2019, the financial bid for privatising five airports in the country was opened and it was won by Adani Enterprises.
The other airports that the Adani firm got are situated in Mangaluru, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Jaipur.
The Kerala government too placed a bid, but the Adani firm won it by quoting a bigger amount. While the Kerala government bid for Rs 135 per passenger, the Adani firm quoted Rs 168.
However, the entire business community has wholeheartedly welcomed the decision of the Centre.
–IANS
sg/dpb