Nagpur’s Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport has landed itself bang in the middle of controversy by operating without the requisite licence.
A year since the airport was handed over for Re1 to Mihan India Private Limited (MIPL) — the joint venture company (JVC) between the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) — the company is running it without the mandatory licence from the Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA).
On Wednesday, the matter came up for hearing at Nagpur bench of Bombay high court, which has now asked the MIPL to clarify its position. Both MIPL authorities and AAI sources confirmed to DNA that MIPL had not yet applied for the DGCA licence that is given only after compliance with safety norms under civil aviation requirements.
The CEO of MIPL, VS Mulekar, a retired AAI official, admitted that MIPL is yet to apply for a licence, but said there are many other airports that are run without licence. “Once we form a team of our own, we’ll apply for it,” he told DNA.
The previous licence to run the Nagpur aerodrome rests with AAI, but cannot be transferred to MIPL. This is the only case in India where an airport is run de facto by the state government through its company.
The Central Government Rules for licensing aerodromes are contained in Part XI of the Aircraft Rules 1937. Rule 78 requires that “no aerodrome shall be used as a regular place for landing and departure by a scheduled air transport service or for a series of landing and departures by any aircraft carrying passengers or cargo or hire or reward unless it has been licensed”.
The AAI sources say DGCA can initiate punitive action against an aerodrome operator if it fails to obtain a licence after due process.
Aircraft Rules specify a surveillance check-list and aerodrome standardisation procedure. For an international airport, compliance is obligatory. In this case, it shows MIPL’s laxity, according to senior AAI sources. The DGCA was yet to respond to queries that its public relations officer in New Delhi asked DNA to email.
The licence matter was brought to the notice of the high court bench of Justices Sharad Bobde and Vasanti Naik during an ongoing hearing on a PIL pertaining to the development of the airport into a multi-modal international cargo hub.
AAI employees, who have categorically refused to join the MIPL calling the process of transfer of the airport as questionable and extra-Constitutional, told the HC that the new authority has neither licence nor expertise to run the aerodrome.
“By forming a company to run airports in Maharashtra, the state government has breached the Constitution and no one’s questioning it,” AAI sources say.
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