The Supreme Court on Friday held that the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERA) is not barred from filing appeals challenging orders of the Telecommunications Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) [Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India v. Delhi International Airport Ltd and ors].
In doing so, the Court has cleared a preliminary hurdle to AERA's challenge to a TDSAT order which held that the Authority could not impose tariffs for certain services at airports such as cargo handling and ground handling.
The TDSAT had concluded that these were non-aeronautical services, which fell beyond AERA's domain.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra today held that AERA's appeal against this TDSAT verdict is maintainable, thereby dismissing preliminary objections by various airports.
"AERA can file an appeal under Section 31 in view of our conclusion that it is a necessary party in the appeals against the tariff orders issued by it ... the appeals filed by AERA against orders of TDSAT under Section 31 of the AERA Act are maintainable. The Registry shall list the matters before the Regular Bench for adjudication of the appeals on merits", the Court said.
AERA is a regulatory authority under the Central government, set up in 2009 to regulate tariffs for aeronautical services, determine other airport charges for services rendered at major airports and monitor performance standards of such airports.
In response to its challenge to the TDSAT order, airports questioned whether such an appeal was maintainable at all since AERA is a quasi-judicial authority and a regulator. AERA could not approach the Court as a litigant, the airports said.
The matter, therefore, involved the question of whether an appeal by AERA against an order passed by the TDSAT in the exercise of its appellate jurisdiction under Section 18 of the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority of India Act is maintainable before the Court.
With the Court today holding that the appeal is maintainable, the matter will now be heard on merits.
The case has implications for charges that passengers will pay for airport facilities, ground handling, cargo operations and post-flight services.
Advocates Buddy Ranganadhan, Nishtha Kumar, Prantar Basu Choudhury, Shrom Sethi and Sahil Tagotra appeared for the Federation of Indian Airlines.
Attorney General R Venkataramani, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, Additional Solicitor General N Venkataraman, Senior Advocate Prashanto Chandra Sen, with Advocates Ritesh Kumar, KPS Kohli, Kartik Mittal, Dheerendra Singh Bisht, Yashasvini Chandra, Shalini Prasad, Kartikay Agarwal, Darshita Sethia, Rashi Goswami, Yashodhara Burmon Roy, Kunal Tandon, Shweta Bharti, Kr. Shashank Shekhar, Sachin Sharma, Anil Kr Gulati, Naman Sharma, Abhishek Kumar, Nur Tandon, Kunal Jindia and Nishant Anand appeared for AERA.
Senior Advocates KK Venugopal and Sajan Poovayya appeared for Bangalore International Airport Limited.
Senior Advocate Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared for Delhi International Airport Limited.
Senior Advocate Arvind Datar appeared for Mumbai International Airport Limited.
[Read judgment]