The CBI has registered a preliminary enquiry against unknown officials of Civil Aviation Ministry, Airports Authority of India (AAI) and GMR-promoted Delhi International Airport ltd. (DIAl) to probe alleged misconduct in the lease of Government land to the private airport operator and causing financial losses to the exchequer.
Allegations include gross misconduct on the part of the Government officials for leasing out 190 acres of land belonging to AAI at the Indira Gandhi International Airport to DIAl at nominal price as compared to the prevailing market price. The CAG had in a report for 2012-13 said that DIAl paid an upfront fee of Rs150 crore to the AAI on April 29, 2006 for which the supporting documents were not provided to the auditor.
The Board of the AAI decided in a meeting on March 6, 2009 to lease out an additional 190.19 acres of land to DIAl and allowed it to use five per cent o this land for commercial purpose. The CAG has said that “no negotiations in good faith as enjoined” by the OMDA took place and an upfront fee was used as base to calculate the price for the additional land provided by AAI to DIAl. This allowed AAI to lease out an additional 190.19 acres at a meager amount of Rs6.19 crore.
The current value of 9.5 acres (5 per cent of 190.19 acres) amounted to Rs950 crore as estimated by Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA). The earning potential for 58 years from 9.5 acres based on DIAl’s own projections was Rs6,475 crore. The CAG had questioned why a private operator should be levied a fee which is much lower than that fixed by Government for its own departments.