The Kerala government on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the Centre’s decision to lease out the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport to Adani Enterprises, NDTV reported. Challenging against the Kerala High Court’s last month order against intervention into the matter, the state government in its plea said that the Centre’s move allows someone with “no previous experience” to manage airports, according to BloombergQuint.
In 2019, Adani Enterprises won a bid to operate the Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram and Guwahati airports through a public-private partnership model.
The Union Cabinet had approved a proposal to lease out the Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram airports through a public-private partnership model in August this year.
Currently, these airports are managed by the Airports Authority of India. The Centre has decided to lease out the Thiruvananthapuram airport to the Adani Group for 50 years.
Following the Centre’s decision, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that the move was against an assurance given to him personally. Subsequently, a resolution was passed unanimously in the state Assembly against the Centre’s decision.
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