Renegotiate on HAL airport, directs HC

Renegotiate on HAL airport, directs HC
Asks Centre, State, AAI To Discuss User Fee With BIAL
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday directed the Union and state governments and the Airports Authority of India to renegotiate with BIAL on the issues of keeping the HAL airport open to commercial air traffic and levying of the user development fee. However, the court refused to pass any interim order on the closure of the HAL airport.
While the first order came as a big boost to those who had petitioned for keeping the HAL airport open, the second came as a dampener.
“BIAL (Bangalore International Airport Limited) had raised funds based on terms and conditions in the concessional agreement. We are not in favour of restraining the respondents from honouring and giving effect to the concessional agreement. But keeping in mind the larger public interest and minimizing the hardship, the renegotiation may be held as far as the user development fee and also retaining the HAL airport, the suggestions put forth by the committee,” a division Bench headed by Chief Justice Cyriac Joseph has observed in its 14-page interim order.
The ‘committee’ the Bench refers to is the parliamentary standing committee on transport, tourism and culture, which had recommended retaining the old airports in Bangalore and Hyderabad considering growth factors and had also termed the levy of UDF illogical and irrational. It had also suggested the setting up of more private greenfield airports and had said that there is still time for renegotiating issues by way of either modifications or scrapping the contract.
The court refused to consider the distance factor to the new international airport for grant of interim order. “Nowadays, international airports are normally outside the city and it is not unusual or abnormal to have an international airport at 40 km distance. Improving connectivity can help the situation,” the Bench observed. The Bench then posted the matter for final disposal in the second week of June. The central government had defended its decision to close the existing airport saying that having two operational airports was considered economically not viable.
The decision to construct the new airport was taken due to the constraint on expansion of the HAL airport and the need for creating additional facilities given the traffic growth, the Centre had stated.
The HAL airport cannot take the increasing traffic. Moreover, it is a defence airport which will also be used for testing aircraft. The fuel store is on the other side of the road, near car parking lot. In these days of car bombing incidents, it is a security threat as well, the BIAL had said.
The new airport was necessitated long back and the concessional agreement for the new airport was signed in July 2004 itself and everybody knew it. Every month’s delay would cost Rs 50 cr or more, the BIAL had added. City advocate G R Mohan, The Times of India’s Lead India winner R K Misra, the Bangalore City Connect Foundation and B Krishna Bhat had filed separate PIL challenging the closure of HAL airport once the new Bengaluru International Airport is inaugurated. They have also challenged the levy of UDF ranging from Rs 675-955 on each of the passengers and had sought retaining the old airport for some domestic flights, especially short-haul flights.
Open Question
Issues
Keeping HAL airport open, levying of UDF
HC’s fiat
Centre, state government, AAI must talk to BIAL
Observation
In public interest, to minimize hardship, renegotiation may be held...
No order
Court refuses to pass interim order
Next hearing
Matter for final disposal posted to second week of June HAL AIRPORT VERDICT HC order a big breakthrough
Bangalore: The high court directive to the government to renegotiate the contract with BIAL has been welcomed my many, including the petitioners.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, who is part of The City Connect Foundation that petitioned the court to keep HAL Airport open, said the directive is a “very positive development’’. “The new airport’s capacity, the connectivity to it and the UDF (user development fee) are all huge issues. Now the door has been opened to ensure citizens don’t suffer. We don’t want BIAL to suffer. But neither do we want citizens to be inconvenienced,’’ she said.
R K Misra, another petitioner, said the government was finding
it difficult to initiate the renegotiation because it was a signatory to the original contract. “Now that the HC has suggested a renegotiation, it gives the government elbow room to do so,’’ he said.
BIAL declined to comment on the matter.
R C Purohit, former president of the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI), said the HC ruling gives “us hope that HAL Airport will be kept open’’. He urged HAL to take the initiative to open negotiations with BIAL. “HAL should agree to pay a certain amount of their profits from airline operations to BIAL,’’ he said.
Many citizens, especially frequent flyers in the south and east of Bangalore, are worried about inordinately long commute times they would have to suffer if the only option for them is the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA). Some like Devesh Agarwal of the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) have argued that the new airport will soon run out of capacity, considering Bangalore’s huge growth in air traffic. BIA is designed for 12 million passengers a year. Bangalore saw a 10.8 million passenger traffic last year. With annual growth rates of 30% estimated for the coming years, the capacity is expected to fall short within a year.
Petitioners to move SC
With the HC declining to pass an order to stop the closure of HAL Airport, some of those who had petitioned the Court on the matter plan to move the Supreme Court. R K Misra, one of the petitioners, said he is considering filing a special leave petition with the SC. “My lawyers are studying the HC order. We’ll take a final decision next week,’’ he said. Bangalore City Connect Foundation is also said to be considering moving the SC.
BIAL to open on May 11
BIAL continues to stick to its position that it will begin operations on May 11. A BIAL spokesperson said the company will not have an inaugural function on that day on account of the election code of conduct. “A formal inauguration will happen after polls. But flights landing after 8 pm on May 10 will do so at BIA, and all take-offs from midnight of May 11 will happen from there,’’ she said.
Asked about the permissions that are yet to be received from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the BIAL spokesperson expressed confidence that these would be received before the launch date. She said a DGCA inspection is expected to happen on April 22.