Delhi HC refuses to direct NACIL to stop payment for new planes

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court today declined to direct the National Aviation Company of India Ltd (NACIL) to stop payment for purchase of 47 new aircraft as a part of aircraft acquisition programme on the ground that state-owned Air India and Indian Airlines were facing huge financial losses since 2006.
A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Mukta Gupta dismissed an application seeking a stay on the payment for 47 new aircraft which were supposed to be bought in the year 2012 as the aviation industry is facing loss despite the fact that the Standing Committee on Transport and Parliament Committee on Public Undertakings have given reports about the loss.
"To avoid further financial loss, the payment should be stopped," argued Prashant Bhushan on behalf of the petitioner.
The Bench accepted Attorney General G E Vahanvati's submission that the reports have been submitted in Parliament recently and Action Taken Report was to be submitted by the government this month.
The court also accepted the argument that after 26/11 (Mumbai terror attack) in 2008 the airline business has gone down considerably and new aircraft were inducted by the government in order to meet the international competitions as the airlines from other countries have launched highly advanced aircraft to improve the business.
The Bench was hearing a PIL filed by an NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation alleging the government went in for a huge unnecessary fleet expansion programme in which purchase orders for 111 aircraft were given at cost a Rs 67,000 crores.
12/05/10 PTI/Economic Times

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Categories: NACIL May 2010