JUDGMENT

Arijit Pasayat, J. - Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment of a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court. Decision taken by a group of Ministers in a matter of joint venture partnership as a part of the privatization policy of the Government of India was assailed before the High Court.

2. According to the appellant, the project has to be grounded because of several major defects which would render the projects take off disastrous. The respondents on the other hand contend that minor technical flaws, if any, have been rectified before the ultimate decision was taken and the project has been rightly held to be in a fit condition to take off.

3. The key players in this dispute are M/s Reliance Airports Developers Pvt. Ltd. (in short ‘RAL’), Airports Authority of India (in short ‘AAI’), Government of India (in short ‘GOI’), GMR Infrastructures Ltd. (in short ‘GMR’), GVK Industries Ltd. (in short ‘GVK’).

4. Background facts sans unnecessary details are as follows:

As a part of the GOI’s avowed policy of privatization of strategic national assets, the first step appears to be privatization of two airports i.e. Mumbai and Delhi on a joint venture basis. In March, 2003