Ajit Singh denies move to amend aircraft rules

Minister refutes charges that ministry of civil aviation is bending rules to benefit private airport operators GMR (Delhi) and GVK (Mumbai)

The ministry of civil aviation on Wednesday denied allegations that it was looking at amending the aircraft rules to benefit private airport operators at Delhi and Mumbai by excluding the user development fee (UDF) from the purview of the revenue-sharing agreement these have with state-owned Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Minister Ajit Singh told Business Standard, “There is no such thinking in the ministry (to amend aircraft rules). During the biding process itself, an agreement was reached that the airport operators at Delhi and Mumbai will share 46 per cent and 39 per cent of overall revenues with the AAI. We are not making any changes to exclude UDF from its purview.”

Singh made the statement in response to Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dubey’s letter to the Prime Minister and chief vigilance commissioner, alleging the ministry was considering such changes to benefit GMR Group which operates Delhi airport and the GVK Group, that operates the Mumbai one.

Dubey claimed between 2009 and 2014, the total UDF for Delhi comes to Rs 3,800 crore and for Mumbai Rs 700 crore.

The MP had demanded the government order an enquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Central Vigilance Commission. He’d also intimated the head of the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority.

In an earlier letter dated June 13, Dubey had accused Jet Airways of causing a loss of Rs  500 crore to the national exchequer by colluding with senior officials of the ministry. The MP had held that the airline had sold three slots at London’s Heathrow Airport rightfully belonging to the Indian government for $70 million to Etihad Airways and not reimbursed the amount to the exchequer.

“There is no truth in such allegations. The government can allocate traffic rights but the slots are owned by airports. Air India, too, had sold its slot in London. The government is not involved in such negotiations,” Singh informed.