DIAL finds hospitable clime in aviation ministry

New Delhi: Civil aviation minister Praful Patel indicated on Monday the GMR group may be allowed to set up a subsidiary of Delhi International Airport (DIAL) and accept deposits, in addition to rent, to lease land for setting up hospitality projects. The attorney-general’s (A-G) views cannot be disregarded and the government would adhere to his views while taking a decision on the issue, Mr Patel remarked while commenting on the stand-off between GMR and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) over deposits from parties leasing land from DIAL.
“A-G is the highest law officer in the country and we have to go by his views,” Mr Patel said.
Earlier, the civil aviation ministry had sought the A-G’s view on DIAL’s plan to collect security deposits from real estate developers. Civil aviation ministry officials were not willing to allow GMR to go ahead with the plan. AAI holds 26% stake in DIAL while GMR and its partners hold the remaining equity.
The A-G is reported to have said there was nothing wrong in DIAL floating subsidiaries and taking refundable or non-refundable deposits from the developers setting up hotels, shops and convention centres at the Delhi airport.
11/12/07 Nirbhay Kumar/Economic Times

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Categories: Airports Dec 2007