The Kerala government is in controversy again, this time over hiring the services of a firm close to the Adani family in the state's bidding process for privatisation of Thiruvananthapuram airport. The government lost the bid and Adani Enterprises which was a co-participant in the bidding, won the bid to operate and manage Trivandrum International Airport.
An RTI revealed that out of the Rs 2.36 crore spent by the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC), Rs 55,39,522 was spent as professional fee for bidding to law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.
Paridhi Adani, who is married to Adani group Chairman Gautam Adani’s eldest son Karan Adani, is the co-owner of the firm. She is the daughter of the founder Cyril Shroff, who owns the law firm. Cyril and his wife Vandana Shroff are well-known corporate lawyers in the country. Karan Adani is in-charge of the Vizhinjam port project and has closely interacted with the Kerala government.
Leader of Opposition in Kerala assembly Ramesh Chennithala sought clarification from the state government over the involvement of the law firm. He has alleged a nexus between the state government and the Adani group.
"Reports of state government seeking legal advice on bidding process from Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, a firm owned by close relative of Adani, raise concerns. If true, this shows a nexus between the state government and the Adani Group," Chennithala said in statement on Saturday.
Chennithala said that this raises serious questions on proprietary and integrity and that the LDF government must explain how they hired the firm despite this conflict.
"By involving a firm close to Adani, it seems that government was unable to maintain secrecy of bidding documents," Chennithala added in a media statement, urging the government to clear doubts on the issue.
The BJP state unit has also questioned the involvement of the legal firm.
Adani Enterprises had won the rights to run six airports — Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, and Guwahati — through the PPP model after a competitive bidding process in February 2019.
For the Thiruvananthapuram airport, Adani Enterprises won the rights by bidding the highest per passenger fee of Rs 168 to the Airport Authority of India (AAI), while the KSIDC made a bid of Rs 135.
However, the Kerala government has opposed the PPP model at the airport and has said that it wishes to run and operate the airport.
After losing the bid for the airport, the Kerala government then approached the Kerala High Court on this matter and the petition was dismissed in December 2019.
TNM tried reaching out to Kerala FM Thomas Isaac and Dr K Ellangovan, Principal Secretary, Government of Kerala (Industries & Norka) for a clarification on the same, but received no response.