Bombay High Court: A news item was published in Nagpur City Edition of daily Lokmat dated 02-08-2024 wherein it was disclosed that the operation of the Nagpur Airport was closed every day for eight hours since March 2024. The Division Bench of Nitin W. Sambre and Abhay J. Mantri, JJ., considering the geographical location of the Nagpur City, being the center of the country, opined that the operation of the Airport was for the convenience of the people residing in Central India and thus, it deemed appropriate to take cognizance based on the said news by treating the news item as a Public Interest Litigation.
It was stated that the reason for the closure of the Airport for such a long period of eight hours during daytime was due to the repairing that needed to be carried out to the runway and the news further disclosed that from March 2024 till the date of the present order, there was hardly any repairing activity carried out and due to closure of the Airport, the travellers of the Central India were facing hardship and inconvenience.
The Court considering the geographical location of the Nagpur City, being the center of the country, opined that the operation of the Airport was for the convenience of the people residing in Central India and thus, it deemed appropriate to take cognizance based on the said news by treating the said news item as a Public Interest Litigation.
The Court appointed Advocate Kartik N Shukul as an Amicus to assist the Court and requested him to frame an appropriate petition within a period of one week from the date of the present order.
The Court directed issuance of notices to the State of Maharashtra, through Principal Secretary, Department of Civil Aviation, the Maharashtra Airport Development Company, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India and the Multi Modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur (‘MIHAN’) as they were the probable respondents to the present petition in addition to the Airport Authority of India. The Court directed to have response from all the Authorities on the present issue at the earliest.
The matter would next be listed on 14-08-2024 for preliminary consideration.
[Court on its own Motion v. State of Maharashtra, 2024 SCC OnLine Bom 2539, decided on 02-08-2024]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
Amicus Curiae: Advocate Kartik N Shukul
