6 months ago
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The Madras High Court, connected Friday (November 11, 2025), reserved orders connected 2 writ petitions filed by PVR INOX against the projected closure of its five-screen mutiplex operating astatine the Aerohub, a commercialized abstraction attached to the multi-level car parkland (MLCP) gathering successful Chennai airport.
Justice M. Dhandapani deferred his verdict aft proceeding arguments precocious by elder counsel P.S. Raman and Satish Parasaran for the petitioner and Additional Solicitor General (ASG) AR.L. Sundaresan, assisted by Ramaswamy Meyyappan, for Airports Authority of India (AAI).
The ASG told the justice the AAI had nary nonstop contractual work with PVR INOX which was lone a sub licencee of Meenambakkam Realty Private Limited, a peculiar intent conveyance (SPV) floated by Olympia Techpark (Chennai) Private Limited for the operation of the Aerohub.
Pointing retired the contractual statement betwixt AAI and Meenambakkam Realty had got terminated and the substance was present pending with an arbitral tribunal, the ASG said, PVR INOX could, astatine best, question damages lone from the SPV and could not record writ petitions against AAI.
He besides contended the AAI was not successful favour of allowing the multiplex to relation wrong the airdrome premises since cognition of a cinema hallway was not a permissible enactment nether the AAI Act of 1994. “It is not arsenic if we privation to propulsion retired PVR INOX and bring idiosyncratic else. We bash not privation a theatre astatine each successful our premises,” helium said.
Mr. Sundaresan denied the statement made connected behalf of PVR INOX that the word ‘airport’ recovered successful the AAI Act would not see the Aerohub gathering which was located extracurricular the terminal buildings and the runways secured by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
“The country from the GST (Grand Southern Trunk) Road to the compound partition down the airdrome buildings is the airport. Just due to the fact that the Aerohub is located extracurricular the CISF information portion does not mean that it could not beryllium called an airport. Car parking is simply a rider facility. It is connected to the airport,” helium said.
When the justice drew an analogy with the Madras High Court analyzable and said, the CISF secures lone the High Court buildings and not the different buildings which location household courts and truthful on, the ASG said, that analogy would not use to the airdrome since AAI was bound to supply definite services extracurricular the information portion too.
“There are astir 16 to 18 gates to the airdrome terminal buildings. It is not arsenic if lone the country northbound to those gates could beryllium called an airport. The southbound of that country is besides airport. We person to supply abstraction for loading and unloading of luggage, boarding and deboarding of passengers from their cars and truthful on,” helium said.
