Court stays KIC order on BIAL

Court stays KIC order on BIAL
Bengaluru,








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The high court on Tuesday stayed for two weeks the order passed by a full bench of the Karnataka Information Commission holding Bengaluru International Airport Ltd as a public authority defined under the RTI Act.

Justice N.K. Patil stayed the order passed by the KIC on August 18, 2008 and issued notices to KIC, Benson Isaac and Karnataka State Industrial Investment and Development Corporation. The court directions came following a petition filed by the BIAL challenging the KIC full bench order.

On Tuesday, BIAL in its contention said that the share of the government in the project is Rs 450 crore of which Rs 350 crore is the loan given by the government. The government share is only 17 per cent of Rs 2,470 crore spent by the BIAL for the project.

The BIAL stated that the provisions of the RTI Act or the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act, 1999 were not applicable to the BIAL and that it was not a public authority.

It had also stated that the BIAL is a company with equity participation by the private sector to an extent of 74 per cent and therefore the question of furnishing information did not arise. Earlier, Benson Isaac told the court that the BIAL comes under the purview of the RTI Act.