Meghalaya High Court
Registrar General, vs . State Of Meghalaya & Ors. on 24 May, 2019
Bench: Mohammad Yaqoob Mir, H.S.Thangkhiew
Serial No. 01
Regular. List
HIGH COURT OF MEGHALAYA
AT SHILLONG
MC[(WPC)]. No. 79 of 2016
Date of Order : 24.05.2019
Registrar General, Vs. State of Meghalaya & Ors.
High Court of Meghalaya.
Coram:
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir, Chief Justice
Hon'ble Mr. Justice H.S.Thangkhiew, Judge
Appearance:
For the Petitioner/Appellant(s) : Mr. P.Yobin, Amicus Curiae
For the Respondent(s) : Mr. A.Kumar, AG with
Mr. A.Kharwanlang, GA.
Ms. A.Paul, ASG.
Mr. A.Dhar, Adv. vice Mr. K.Paul, CGC for R 4 & 5.
Mr. P.D.Nair, Adv. with Mr. H.Rahman, Adv. for R 15.
Mr. S.Jindal, Adv. for R 21.
1. In compliance to order dated 14-05-2019, an affidavit has been filed on behalf of Ministry of Civil Aviation along with the minutes of the meeting held on 20-05-2019 presided by Smti. Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation. The conclusion of the meeting held as reflected therein reveal that commercial viability has still remained the question.
2. Today, learned counsel for the respondents-Zoom Airways has made a fair submission to the effect that the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Zoom Airways due to some medical exigency was not available and it is he, Mr. Kaustav Dhar who infact had initiated the process and was in contact with the State authorities as well, the inputs given by the CEO who was working in place of earlier CEO are required to be augmented. According to learned counsel there have been some developments after the meeting held and all efforts are made to explore the possibility of operation of Zoom 1 Airways CRJ200, he prays that some time maybe granted so that efforts put in may fructify.
3. It is the submission of learned Amicus Curiae as well as learned Advocate General that the ILS installation has not been useful at all because even in absence of ILS, visibility limit was 5 kms.
4. The representative of the Airport Authority of India namely., Mr. R.G.Rama states that infact they had processed the papers for 3C category but sanction had come for 2C category, now again after making certain amends they have processed the papers for 3C category which is lying with the DGCA and it is expected that same will be cleared very shortly, after that happens the visibility limit will be 2800 mtrs.
5. Dr. N.Mozika, learned counsel appearing for the Airport Authority of India submits that the ILS installed is proving very useful, there was requirement of some expansion, that has been done, DGCA may now sanction 3C category to the airport.
6. It is quite astonishing that all along the impression was given to the Court that ILS as installed is useful but same is far from reality. We have been noticing that the Airport Authority of India right from the beginning has been projecting from time to time different technical issues and other issues oblivious of the fact that in a detailed order we had made it clear that incase the airport is not made functional on expected lines, then the Airport Authority of India not only owes an explanation regarding submissions based on which the State government had to invest huge amount, we hope that this Court will not be constrained to pass such orders which may have far reaching effects but before we do so, we give them the chance to do whatever is required for making the airport absolutely operational for take- off and landing of the flights from Umroi to Delhi.
7. Meanwhile, learned Advocate General as well as learned Amicus Curiae may file their response so as to enable the Court to pass further appropriate orders on the next date.
28. Learned counsel for the respondents-Zoom Airways states that two weeks' time may be granted to enable the present CEO of Zoom Airways to work out a practicable solution to the problem.
9. Post on 12th June, 2019.
(H.S.Thangkhiew) (Mohammad Yaqoob Mir)
Judge Chief Justice
Meghalaya
24.05.2019
"S.Rynjah PS"
3