New Delhi: Escalating the political slugfest over the leasing of Trivandrum International Airport to Adani Enterprises, Elamaram Kareem, the CPI(M)’s Rajya Sabha MP from Kerala, Friday gave a privilege notice against Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri for misleading the House by “deliberately giving false information”.
Kareem wrote to Rajya Sabha Secretary General Desh Deepak Verma, saying he is giving the notice under Rule 187 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the upper house.
Talking to ThePrint, Kareem said Puri had stated in March matters related to the approval for leasing out of Thiruvananthapuram airport was under the consideration of the Kerala High Court and the government has not taken a final decision as the matter is sub judice.
Puri submitted this as his answer to the Unstarred Question No. 1936 raised by Kareem on 11 March 2020 in Rajya Sabha, according to the CPI(M) MP.
However, in a series of tweets Friday evening, Puri clarified that there was no stay in the case either by the Supreme Court or Kerala High Court. The Kerala government had approached the high court, which dismissed the petition in December 2019, he added.
The Union cabinet Wednesday approved the leasing out of the airports at Thiruvananthapuram, Jaipur and Guwahati to Adani Enterprises. Soon after, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in which he said the Centre has taken a “unilateral decision”, which was against the wishes of the people of Kerala.
Also read: Why Kerala is up in arms over Adani Group bagging bid to run Trivandrum airport
‘Contempt of Parliament’
Kareem, in his letter to the Rajya Sabha secretary general, wrote that if the matter was sub judice on 11 March, its status would be the same even now.
He went on to argue that Puri and the Centre had through the statement led Parliament to believe that any action related to the leasing out of the airport will be taken after the Kerala High Court settles the matter.
“But the Union Cabinet has already decided to lease out the operation and management of Trivandrum Airport to the private bidder,” Kareem told ThePrint.
“It undoubtedly proves that Puri deliberately gave false information to mislead the House, and thereby the people. If it is argued that the statement was true, then the Minister and the Government have intentionally violated the written statement given in the House. Both are clear cases of breach of Privilege and contempt of Parliament,” Kareem said.
Puri’s response
The Union minister in his tweets said the Union cabinet cleared the awarding of the airport to a private party “subject to the outcome of Writ Petition and in accordance with provisions of undertaking given by the Concessionaire”.
“Petitioners then filed a SLP in Hon’ble SC. Apex Court remitted the matter back to Hon’ble Kerala High Court…. The Union Cabinet has given its go-ahead for awarding the airport to the private party subject to the outcome of Writ Petition & in accordance with provisions of undertaking given by the Concessionaire,” Puri posted.
The union minister further said that if the petitioners succeed and the outcome of litigation leads to the annulment/cancellation of bidding process, then the concessionaire will handover the possession of airport to the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
“They will be entitled to refund of amount paid to AAI & additional investments made in the assets. The Concessionaire will also not demand any damages from AAI. Here it should be borne in mind that these airports will come back to AAI after the lease period of 50 years,” Puri said in another tweet.
Now, Kerala Government, running two very successful airports in PPP mode, is opposing the handing over of Thiruvananthapuram airport under PPP mode. It has come to my knowledge that an all-party meeting in Kerala has opposed the PPP model at Thiruvananthapuram airport.
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) August 21, 2020
Further, he added that sovereign functions like customs, security, immigration, plant & animal quarantine, health services, and communication & navigation surveillance/Air Traffic Management services will continue to be provided by government agencies.
Kerala says it made a bid matching Adani, Puri counters
Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac Thursday tweeted that the Thiruvananthapuram airport had been leased to Adani Enterprises after rejecting the claim of Kerala government, despite the state matching Adani’s offer.
Thiruvananthapuram airport privatised to Adani rejecting the claim of Kerala govt , even after offer to match Adani’s rate . PMO’s promise to accept Kerala proposal broken. People of Kerala will not accept this act of brazen cronyism.#Airportprivatisation
— Thomas Isaac (@drthomasisaac) August 20, 2020
Puri had responded to Isaac’s tweet stating: “Parallel narratives can be no match for facts. A campaign has been launched against the decision to privatise the Thiruvananthapuram airport. It was stipulated that if the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) bid comes within the 10% range of the winning bid, they would be awarded the work.”
He added, “There was a difference of 19.64% between them & the next bidder when bids were open….Thus, despite special provision of RoFR being given to GoK, they could not qualify in international bidding process carried out in a transparent manner. They subsequently approached the Hon’ble Kerala High Court & Hon’ble Supreme Court.”
They subsequently approached the Hon’ble Kerala High Court & Hon’ble Supreme Court.
All these facts are available in the public domain.
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) August 20, 2020
In their representation that followed thereafter on 21.11.2018, GoK requested that Thiruvananthapuram International Airport be delinked from the PPP process. They also cited their experience in development of Greenfield airports at Cochin & Kannur.
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) August 20, 2020
(The copy has been updated with Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri’s response.)
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Elamarom Kareem is from Kozhikode where the recent Air mishap happened. He wants the northern side of kerala to flourish at any cost. Kochi and Kozhikode are private airports and most of the stakes are with his community. Who is he to put is nose in trivandrum Airport. We have intellectuals like MP Sasi Tharoor who has voiced his concern about the negligence of trivandrum airport since many years. So Elamarom Kareem need not meddle in trivandrum affairs.
So much for the most educated and literate state of the nation.
The due process result is not acceptable and calling the whole transparent process questionable.
Very unfortunate looks like they want to build madrasas for the masakeens.
Okay so a company bids transparently and then these communists start making noise? No wonder we are a horrible place to do business. Listen to Congress MP shashi tharoor. Blind ideological posturing of the communists is why kerala depends on gulf remittances and tourism heavily. Get to your senses.