AAI Wins Arbitration Case After Judge Rejects Plea by Consortium

Aug. 7, 2018
The agreement between the consortium and AAI does not give exclusive rights to the two entities to provide ground handling services, and rules do not limit the number of ground handling services providers at the airports.

Airports Authority of India (AAI) won a Rs 3,000-crore arbitration case after Justice SS Nijjar found no merit in a consortium's claim that the airport regulator deliberately breached ground handling rules.

The agreement between the consortium — Bhadra International India and Novia International Consulting APS — and AAI does not give exclusive rights to the two entities to provide ground-handling services, Justice Nijjar said, adding that rules do not limit the number of ground-handling services providers at the airports.

The consortium had filed two separate arbitrations for Chennai and Kolkata airports and a few airports in south India, claiming a collective amount of more than Rs 3,000 crore after accusing AAI of not complying with Ground Handling Regulations, 2007.