Supreme Court stays Delhi HC order in lease termination case involving HCI
Supreme Court on Monday stayed a Delhi High Court order that summoned the Ministry of Civil Aviation secretary, the Airport Authority of India (AAI), the chairmen and managing directors of GMR IGI Airport and of Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) and the Hotel Corporation of India (HCI) chairman in a case related to the termination of a lease for land given to the Hotel Corporation of India.
A Bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud while issuing notice to DIAL and others on three separate appeals filed by the AAI, the ministry and the HCI stayed the HC’s February 22 order that asked the top brass to remain “personally” present in the court on March 6.
Terming the HC order as «erroneous» and liable to be set aside, the ministry told the SC that it was not a party to either the lease agreement between the AAI and HCI or the agreement between the former and DIAL. It also said that the initial decision to issue termination notice was also taken solely by the authority and the ministry only acted as a “facilitator” for resolving the dispute. «In fact, the AAI only sought advice from the ministry and the opinion was given by the ministry in terms of the lease agreement between the AAI and HCL,” the appeal stated.
The directions by the HC were issued in an appeal filed by the DIAL, the airport operator, challenging the minutes of the meeting of November 4, 2019 and directions of December 2019 related to handing over of the possession of land and recovery of alleged dues from AAI and the HCI.
The dispute pertains
