The following submissions were made by MIAL in the Delhi High Court during the hearing of an ongoing case which seeks to bring MIAL under the ambit of RTI.
Maintaining its stand that Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) is not a public authority and cannot come under the ambit of Right to Information (RTI) Act, the MIAL has now said that it is essential to keep in mind that MIAL operates in a competitive field, and has to keep confidentiality. If there is a breach of confidentiality, it will lead to irreparable damage or in some cases, affect its operations. It also stated that the right to information is not an absolute right.
The following submissions were made by MIAL in the Delhi High Court during the hearing of an ongoing case which seeks to bring MIAL under the ambit of RTI.
The Mumbai Airport was given to GVK-led MIAL in 2006 for operations and modernization on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model wherein Airport Authority of India (AAI) has 26 per cent stakes. However, MIAL has contended that any shareholding by AAI in MIAL, cannot be the ground to hold MIAL as a public authority.
On bringing MIAL under RTI, MIAL in its submissions to Delhi High Court recently has said, "Any share-holding by AAI in MIAL, or any alleged financing in MIAL, cannot be held as a ground to hold MIAL as a public authority."
It further adds, "AAI owns only 26 per cent of the issued shares, whereas 74 per cent of the shares are owned by private parties. Holding 26 per cent of the shares by AAI does not give any control in the functioning or day to day management of MIAL and does not make MIAL a public authority."
The MIAL has also contended that there is no substantial financing directly or indirectly of MIAL by any appropriate government including AAI. Further adding that AAI does not have any control over MIAL followed by citing that MIAL is financially and operationally independent, and that it is not owned, funded or controlled by any appropriate government. A query sent to MIAL over the submissions made by it recently in Delhi High court did not get any response till the time of going to the press.
Meanwhile, it all started after Pune based RTI activist Sanjay Shirodkar had filed an RTI application in the year 2008 post which MIAL stated that it is not a public authority. This was challenged by Shirodkar in Central Information Commission (CIC) that ruled MIAL being public authority bringing it under the ambit of RTI Act; however, MIAL challenged the same in Delhi High court where the matter is ongoing since.
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