NAGPUR: The long-pending issue of the Nagpur airport handover to the joint venture company (JVC) executing the international cargo hub project got a boost, with the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court directing the Union civil aviation ministry to expedite the process and inform the court within six weeks.

A division bench comprising justices Ambadas Joshi and R C Chavan, turned down additional solicitor general Amarendra Sharan’s plea for three months to complete the process and asked the government to do so in six weeks. The court informed Sharan that after six weeks, if it finds it necessary to give more time, then the government will extend this period.

During the last hearing, the civil aviation ministry in its affidavit categorically stated that airport transfer was purely a policy matter and no specific time frame could be set for process. The government also appealed to the court that it shouldn’t interfere in the government’s policy matters that are decided at a higher level.

Later, a petition was filed by the Vidarbha Economic Development (VED) Council, urging the court to probe into the delay in handing over the airport to MADC. The petitioner claimed that when it was clearly mentioned in an MoU inked on December 18 last year that the airport would be transferred to MADC within three months after the agreement, it was not done even after six months.

Wednesday’s court decision is expected to provide a major fillip to the multi-modal international hub airport at Nagpur (Mihan), a project which also includes a multi-product SEZ and is billed to provide large employment opportunities and drive Vidarbha’s economy to prosperity.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Nagpur/Airport_handover_in_6_weeks_HC...

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