On Friday it was the turn of the Supreme Court to come up with the ruling on a curative petition filed by the Indian Union government and AAI with regard to GMR Group’s management and operation of Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport, Nagpur. IT Graduate, Tushar Mehta Stood for the government during a hearing before a bench constituted of four judges including the CJI Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud. Specifically, Mehta said there was no legal basis to continue with the petition as earlier asked by the court.
He went on to say that while there have been prior talks regarding a possible bias, he deemed it impossible to lodge such an argument against an order from the Supreme Court. More about, Mehta pointed out the government did not seek his opinion on this matter and that he has a duty to give an impartial view to the court. The three-judge bench – comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Bhushan R Gavai, and JK Maheshwari to hear the proceedings – commended Mehta for his professional proceeding to dismiss the case as it said the curative petition did not meet the stringent thresholds that would be used, such as questions of bias or denial of natural justice.
The friction goes back to May this year when the supreme court affirmed a high court verdict in favour of GMR Airports that has again stretched out the legal fight. The joint venture MIHAN India Ltd, which oversees the Nagpur airport project, tried to contest a contract signed with GMR in 2019 for the airport modernization and operations. MIHAN also stated that the bid acceptance letter that was sent to GMR was not a contractual award However, MIHAN was not justified in canceling the contract.
Similarly, in the 2022 judgment, the Supreme Court relied on the view of the Bombay High Court, holding that specifically, contracts entered by the government must be fair and equal. The bench was of the view that the high court had delivered a legally correct judgment and therefore no intervention was required.
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