No revival of Begumpet airport

By S A Ishaqui

Hyderabad, April 17: The Central government on Friday told the Andhra Pradesh High Court that it was not possible to revive or expand flight operations at the Begumpet airport.

The additional solicitor-general of India, Mr Gopala Subramaniam, while arguing before a division bench comprising Justice B. Prakash Rao and Justice R. Kantha Rao, submitted that the decision to close down the Begumpet airport fell within the realm of a policy decision and was outside the scope of judicial review.

The bench was dealing with a petition filed by a journalist, Mr S. Srinivas Reddy, from Saroornagar against the closure of the Begumpet airport.

The petitioner contended that there was no specific provision in the Aircraft Act 1934 and the Airports Authority of India Act, 1994, for the closure of existing airport.
Mr Subramaniam refuted the petitioner’s contentions and said that the decision of the closure was backed by the provisions of the Act and also a policy decision of the Centre.

He told the court that the Centre also issued notification for the closure of Delhi and Bengaluru airports after the new airports came into operation.He submitted that the process of commissioning of a new airport at Shamshabad had started almost a decade ago and the process was finalised in 2004.
This included the provision to close the airport at Begumpet. The court reserved its orders.