Who controls AirAsia?: CJ asks for Brand Licensing Agreement to be produced before DGCA

The Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court on Friday directed AirAsia India, a joint venture between Tata Sons and AirAsia Berhad to produce the Brand Licensing Agreement that determines the ownership and control of the Indian counterpart..A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Pradeep Nandrajog, J. were informed by Senior Advocate Arvind Nigam (appearing for the Federation of Indian Airlines) about the Brand Licensing Agreement between the Malaysian and Indian entities. He stated,.“My concern is that on the record we now have the brand licensing agreement which effectively hands over control to the Malaysian company. This is contrary to the guidelines and the law that is applicable.”.The bench granted a time of one week to the respondents to place the agreement on record before the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and further directed the DGCA to examine the BLA and file a report on the aspect of ownership and control of AirAsia..Subramanian Swamy also filed an application for the impleadment of R. Venkatramanan who is the Managing Trustee of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and is responsible for management and oversight of all the Tata Trusts..Defending AirAsia India, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued that the petitioners were indulging in what is “behti ganga mein haath dhona” (make hay while the sun shines) in light of recent legal troubles surrounding the Tata group..The bench has issued notices to the Centre, DGCA and AirAsia seeking their replies on the impleadment application. The DGCA report and the replies are to be filed by December 16..The petition by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and FIA stems out of the clearance granted to Malaysia’s AirAsia Berhad to start a new low-cost airline in India, which according to Swamy was violative of India’s foreign direct investment (FDI) policy..Swamy and FIA challenged the licence granted to AirAsia India, claiming it was fraudulently obtained. They had also sought immediate suspension of the licence.