New Delhi, April 26
Passengers travelling out of Delhi and Mumbai airports would no longer have to pay Airport Development Fee (ADF) with the Supreme Court today quashing the levy, which has yielded about Rs 2,500 crore in just two years.

Hearing an appeal against the Delhi High Court’s order upholding the levy, a Bench of Justices Cyriac Joseph and AK Patnaik set aside the policy of airport developers on the basis of which passengers departing from Delhi airport had to pay a fee of Rs 200 for domestic travel and Rs 1,300 for an international trip. The charges were Rs 100 and Rs 600, respectively at the Mumbai airport.

An NGO, Consumer Online Foundation, had contended in its appeal that the fee was illegal as it was not approved by Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India.

The fee was being collected from March 1, 2009, at the Delhi airport and from April 1, 2009 at the Mumbai airport.

The NGO, in its petition, had pleaded that such a levy can only be charged by a government body like Airports Authority of India and not private bodies like Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) and Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL). — PTI