The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a bunch of petitions challenging the collection of development charges at the Delhi and Mumbai airports by their operators saying that preventing them from collecting the charges would be prejudicial to the public-private partnership policy.
The petitioners had challenged collection of the charges on the ground that the airport operators -- Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) at Indira Gandhi International Airport here and Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) in Mumbai -- were collecting them without authority.
Dismissing the contention of the petitioners, a Division Bench of the Court comprising Justice A. P. Shah and Justice Manmohan said: “There is no illegality in the collection of the charges as the two operators have obtained permission for them from the Union Government.”
“Both DIAL and MIAL have got the management of the respective airports under a statutory lease from the Government and they are entitled to all powers of the Airports Authority of India to levy fees,’’ the Bench said.
DIAL collects Rs.200 from each domestic passenger and Rs.1,300 from each international passenger, while MIAL charges Rs.100 from a domestic passenger and Rs.600 from an international passenger under the head of the airport development fee.
