SHILLONG: The division bench of the High Court of Meghalaya will hear the matter related to expansion of Umroi airport on December 19 after it expressed its reservations against the Airports Authority of India (AAI) seeking time till December 31, 2018.
During the hearing on Thursday, the counsel for AAI KN Choudhury suggested with reference to a submission made earlier on behalf of the authority that the time for completing the project by September 2018 may be considered with liberty to AAI to make submissions for further consideration.
“Though reluctantly, we were poised to accept such suggestions but required the officers concerned to submit their undertaking in that regard. On the requirement of submitting the undertaking, the suggestions on behalf of the officers of the AAI, again, are that they need time at least up to 31.12.2018”, the court observed.
With such nature stand, where excessive timeline is being suggested, Court found it very difficult to derive any satisfaction on the approach of the AAI and prima facie, felt that Court may have to assign the project to some other responsible agency/department, of course, while fixing the responsibility for defaults. However, counsel for the AAI submitted that the matter may be taken up on the next date for the AAI to make specific submissions before the Court.
With lesser Court time available on Thursday, consideration of the matter was and the matter has been listed for hearing on Tuesday. The officers present in the court on Thursday were also directed remain present on the next date as well.
