The Centre has put on hold a plan to amend the law to enable monetisation of land assets owned by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) announced in the Union Budget 2017-18 by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. In his Budget speech, the Finance Minister had said that money raised through monetisation of land assets will be utilised for airport upgradation.
The Centre had initiated a proposal for amending the Airports Authority of India (AAI) Act, 1994 for liberalising land use at airports owned by AAI as mentioned in the National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP) 2016, Minister of State Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
However, the GMR-led Delhi International Airports Ltd. had challenged the provision in the NCAP 2016 in Delhi High Court which declared it as “ultra-vires.”
“Thus, the proposal of amendment in the AAI Act has been kept in abeyance. Ministry of Civil Aviation has approached the Supreme Court against the decision of Delhi High Court and the matter is presently sub-judice,” Mr. Sinha added.
The NCAP 2016 had stated that there were restrictions under the law for the use of land allocated for commercial use of airports. It had said that it would explore ways to liberalise the land-use restrictions for existing and future airports, except existing public-private partnership airports.
Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju had said earlier this year that AAI could monetise about 2,000-3,000 acres of land through amendments to the law.
The government had said that land around AAI airports could be used to develop shopping centres, conference halls, commercial complexes and training facilities. AAI owns about 55,000 hectares of land across the country.