Kerala High Court dismisses state govt’s plea against Airport lease to Adani Group

The Kerala High Court on Monday dismissed the state government's petition against the Adani group managing Thiruvananthapuram International Airport.

Kerala government had filed an application against Modi government's decision to lease out the airport to Adani Enterprises. The plea followed an all-party-meeting in the state demanding the withdrawal of the Union Cabinet's decision.

Earlier, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, formed to participate in the bid for the airport's lease and maintenance, had lost out to Adani Enterprises by a relatively narrow margin of Rs 16 per passenger.

Thiruvananthapuram International Airport is among the six such airport for which the Adani group won the lease in February 2019 for 50 years. The bids were invited by the Airports Authority of India for a public-private partnership model of operation based on fees per domestic passengers.

In 2019, Kerala government had opposed the bid to privatise the airport. It formed KSIDC only after the Kerala High Court dismissed the state's petition. The government then approached the Supreme Court, which while setting aside the High Court's decision, remanded the case back to be decided based on merit.

On August 25, the Kerala High Court once again declined to stay the proceedings, adjourning the case for detailed hearing according to the Supreme Court's instructions.