INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Supreme Court, SC (Photo: Shutterstock)3 min read Last Updated : Sep 27 2024 | 10:57 PM IST
The Supreme Court on Friday closed curative
petitions by the Centre and Airports Authority of India (AAI) seeking reconsideration of its 2022 judgment allowing private firm GMR
or two issues we may be able to argue..
but this may not fall under Rupa Ashok Hurra: Bias, lack of hearing and some other analogous ground..
so these proceedings cannot be made into an intra court appeal
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
solicitor general, however, requested the court to clarify the observation made by the high court that in such kind of contracts, the Union
of India or the AAI are not necessary parties, saying that it may impact other contracts.
The court agreed to clarify that this
observation of the high court can't be read as a correct statement of law.
The Bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud,
solicitor general has, however, submitted that this court may issue a clarification as regards the findings in paragraph 51 of the impugned
judgment (high court judgment) to the effect that in such matters, neither the Union of India nor the AAI are necessary parties
The solicitor general submits that if the above statement of law is to continue to hold the field in future, certain difficulties may be
encountered by the Union of India and the Airports Authority of India in future litigations
We find the above approach of the solicitor general to be fair
Based on the statement of the solicitor general, we record that the curative petition is not pressed before this court
However, it is clarified that the observation in paragraph 51 of the impugned judgment to the effect that neither the Union of India nor the
Airports Authority of India are necessary parties to such proceedings would not be reflective of the correct position of law and the issue
to operate the airport, a decision that was affirmed by the Supreme Court in May 2022.
Then, AAI attempted to challenge this verdict by
