Delhi HC issues notice to Central Government on plea of DIAL challenging commercial operation at Hindon Airforce Station

New Delhi [India], January 24 : The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Central Government on a plea of Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) challenging the continuation of commercial operations at Hindon Air Force Station.
Justice Subramonium Prasad issued notice to the Central Government and others and directed them to file a reply.
The matter has been listed on March 7 for further hearing.
The high court noted the submissions of the petitioner, DIAL, that permitting regular commercial operations at Hindon Air Force Station will affect the petitioner.
The petitioner DIAL moved a petition through Advocate Milanka Chaudhary, challenging a decision of October 31 last year of the Ministry of Civil Aviation to allow the Airports Authority of India to commence scheduled commercial flight operations at the Indian Air Force Station situated in Hindon, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.
DIAL has also challenged the note on April 17 last year, wherein the Airport Authority of India (AAI) has proposed the cancellation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) dated November 10, 2017 entered into between the petitioner, Ministry and Authority, wherein the petitioner consented to use of the Hindon Airforce Station for the limited purpose and limited time of operating certain specific flights falling under the Regional Air Connectivity Scheme ('RCS') only as an interim and stopgap arrangement while the upgradation at IGIA was underway.
The petitioner also sought quashing of the communication dated October 31, last year, issued by Authority inviting various airline operators to increase flight operations and file their respective flight schedule for availing slots at the Hindon Air Force Station.
The plea stated that the said decision, proposal, and communication essentially amount to the establishment of a greenfield airport at Hindon Air Force Station, which is defined in the 350th Report of the Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism, and Culture, titled 'Development of Greenfield and Brownfield Airports and Issues pertaining to Civil Enclaves in Defence Airports' (July 2023).
Senior advocate Arvind Nigam argued that Hindon Air Force Station is not a green field airport.
"A Greenfield airport is conventionally referred to as an aviation facility being developed on empty land or previously undeveloped land and an airport whose commissioning, planning, and construction process is carried out from the scratch or grass route level," the plea stated.
Senior advocate Nigam also argued that said decision, proposal, and communication are against the Ministry's own consistent policies, starting with the Policy on Airport Infrastructure, 1997, which mandates that "no greenfield airport will normally be allowed within an aerial distance of 150 kilometers of an existing airport.
He submitted that Hindon Air Force Station is within this limit.
The aforesaid 1997 policy of respondent no. 1 to not permit a new airport within an aerial distance of 150 kilometres of an existing airport has been consistently adhered to by respondent no. 1 in its subsequent policies, viz. the Greenfield Airports Policy, 2008, and the National Civil Aviation Policy, 2016 ('NCAP'), the plea stated.
It is also submitted that where it is allowed as a second airport in the same city or close vicinity, the parameters for the distribution of traffic between the two airports will be clearly spelt out.".
Further, the 1997 Policy also lays down the circumstances under which a greenfield airport will be allowed to develop, i.e. "A greenfield airport may be permitted where an existing airport is unable to meet the projected requirements of traffic or a new focal point of traffic emerges with sufficient viability, it stated.
It can be allowed both as a replacement for an existing airport or for simultaneous operation. This aspect will have to be clearly spelt out in the notice inviting tenders, the plea stated.