CIDCO pores over 200-yr-old land records to challenge HC's compensation order

Cidco is poring through 200-year land records to challenge recent order, which it feels could make the project unviable

The City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco), nodal agency for the Navi Mumbai international airport project, is examining land records of the past 200 years. It is doing so as part of the preparation to challenge the Bombay high court's order for it to compensate a Pune-based architect, Yashwant Bivalkar, for irregularity in acquiring 157 acre of family-owned land at Ulwe, Panvel, in the zone earmarked for the  airport.

The land was in government possession for a little over five decades, following an agreement between the local collector and the family under the Indian Forest Act. However, it had been transferred to Cidco without the family's knowledge and the latter had fought a court battle since 1989 for fair compensation.

Following the HC order, Cidco will have to give  12.5 per cent developed land in the area to the Biwalkars in compensation, in tune with its own policy. That is,  about 20 acre of developed land, valued around Rs 1,200 crore. Cidco is worried that the airport project, already seeing several cost and time overruns and  currently pegged at Rs 19,000 crore, will get further delayed and become unviable following the order.

“We are studying land records of the area since the early 1800s. We are currently exploring the option of a review petition in the high court and a special leave petition in the Supreme Court,” a Cidco official told Business Standard.

In view of the HC order, Cidco has again extended the last date for bidders to respond to its Request For Qualification (RFQ) for the project, till December 10. This the fourth time the date for the RFQ, floated on February 5,  has been deferred.

Another reason for postponing the RFQ process is the delay in finalisation of the ‘till’ policy for approval. There are two approaches to determining rates for an airport project, termed ‘single till’ and ‘double till’ in international parlance. In the latter system, the aeronautical and non-aeronautical business is split into distinct income and expenditure accounts. This idea is to ensure income from the aeronautical side of the business (such as landing fees, security costs, passenger charges and departure fees) are used for aeronautical expenditure (such as runway repairs and terminal development), leaving non-aeronautical income to provide for non-aeronautical expenditure (building new car parks and expanding retail sections of a terminal) and to make up company profit.

By contrast, a “single till” approach is where all revenues of an airport are directly considered for setting airport charges. The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority has laid down a single till policy for all airports. However, Cidco wants a hybrid till model, as is the case with the Mumbai and Delhi airports. A hybrid till model considers a portion of non-aeronautical revenue for fixation of rates and is favoured by airport developers.

The Navi Mumbai project has been stuck for years on the issue of land acquisition. Last year, the state government approved a compensation and relief & rehabilitation package for all owners whose land was being acquired. Cidco says it has secured consent for acquisition of 99 per cent of the 456 hectares of private land needed but the award and land acquisition is yet to take place.