Supreme Court closes curative plea against approval to GMR to upgrade Nagpur Airport

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday closed a curative plea filed by the Centre and Airports Authority of India (AAI) against the 2022 judgment allowing private firm GMR Airports to upgrade and operate Nagpur's Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport.

A four-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud noted a submission by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who said as a law officer he did not find a valid ground to pursue the matter.

The bench, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, and Surya Kant, closed the matter.

Mehta submitted there could be one or two issues, which could be argued but this may not fall under Rupa Ashok Hurra case judgment related to stringent conditions for entertaining curative petition, including, bias, lack of hearing and some other analogous ground.

"So these proceedings cannot be made into an intra-court appeal. I must own my decision. There was an opinion given by an earlier counsel hinting to a ground of bias but it is my professional opinion that there is no ground of bias and there cannot be any bias. Union of India and AAI may not be necessary parties," he said.

Having noted the dispassionate view, the bench recorded that the Centre and AAI have chosen not to press the petition due to the absence of grounds to invoke curative jurisdiction.

In its May 9, 2022 judgment, the Supreme Court upheld a Bombay High Court's judgment which favoured GMR Airports in a protracted legal battle.

MIHAN India Ltd (Multi-Modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur), a joint venture tasked with managing the Nagpur airport project, had sought to cancel a contract awarded to GMR in 2019 for the airport’s upgradation and operation.

MIHAN contended that the bid acceptance letter issued to GMR in March 2019 was not a formal award of the contract.

The High Court, however, rejected the claim, finding the plea for the cancellation of the contract unjustified.