Notice to Govt for leasing out Delhi Airport for Rs 100

New Delhi, June 2 (UNI) The Delhi High Court today issued notices to the Centre, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and others on a PIL seeking a CBI probe into the ''alleged bungling'' in leasing out 5432 acres of prime land of Delhi airport worth Rs 14,000 crore for Rs 100 per annum to private company GMR-Fraport for modernisation.

A division bench of Justice M K Sharma and Justice Hima Kohli asked the Centre, AAI, Civil Aviation Ministry and CBI to file their replies to the allegations by July 20, the next date of hearing.

Senior counsel P N Lekhi, appearing for the petitioner Rashtriya Mukti Morcha, alleged that there was large scale ''corruption'' involved in the process of modernisation of the airports at Delhi and Mumbai.

Till the petition was disposed off, the lease deed between the government and the GMR Fraport for the Delhi Airport should be cancelled, the petitioner submitted.

The petitioner sensed foulplay as annual lease rent was fixed at ''a minimal amount of Rs 100 per annum for the Delhi Airport comprising an area of 5432 acres in New Delhi along with number of buildings, machinery, equipment valued at Rs 14,000 crore.'' According to the manual published by Land and Development Office (L&DO) of the Urban Development Ministry, the property should have fetched a ground rent of 2.5 percent at Rs 350 crore per annum, said the petition.

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