No union office in parking lot, MIAL tells HC

Mumbai: The Mumbai International Airport Ltd. (MIAL) on Friday stated before the Bombay high court that it has not allowed any political party to build its workers’ union office on land meant for parking. The MIAL was replying to a petition filed by a city resident, Abu Azmi, who claimed that the MIAL had granted permission to the Shiv Sena, BJP and MNS to construct its workers’ union office which is not permitted as the land parcel is meant for the common public.

The petition filed by Mr Azmi was mentioned before a division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Riyaz Chagla. During the hearing, counsel for MIAL, Janak Dwarkadas, verbally informed the court that no permission had been granted to any political party to set up office in the parking lot of both the international and domestic airports. Following this, the bench took this statement on record and directed that the petition be placed before an appropriate bench for hearing, as this bench did not have assignment for such petitions.

Mr Azmi’s lawyer contended that the parking lot was to be used only for passengers and not  commercial purposes. Advocate Dwarkadas told the court that office spaces had been allotted  to registered unions to take care of maintenance of the parking lot.