Kerala: Kannur airport company explains why it said no to CAG audit

KANNUR: The

Kannur International Airport Limited

(

Kial

) authorities have clarified that the airport company does not come under the ambit of Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) as the state government has only 35% share in it.


The clarification came after the Congress demanded a CAG audit of the airport.

Kial countered that a company is considered a government company only if the total share holding of the central and state government is at least 51%. Here the central government does not have any share in the airport company, it said.

"So the conditions for the government establishments are not applicable for Kial, and it is the annual general body of the shareholders that decides the auditor. Sections 139 (1) to 139 (4) of the Company law have clearly specified this," the airport said in a press release.

The release also stated it was the auditor appointed by the CAG that audited the account till 2017-18 but later, the share holders appointed Delloitte & Touche, one of the four biggest auditing companies in the country, in accordance with the Company Law.

The Congress party had decided to strengthen protest against the airport company’s decision and also the allegations that there are widespread irregularities in the appointments made in the airport.

As the first step, the Congress would organise a dharna at the Kial office on September 21 and in the coming days the party would expose the irregularities, said DCC president Satheesan pacheni.

“If everything is transparent, why the authorities are afraid of a CAG audit?” he asked, reiterating that the Civil Aviation Department should intervene to probe the irregularities.

Meanwhile, an RTI activist, Brijith Krishna, who had alleged that the government is trying to sabotage the vigilance probe into the alleged irregularities in the appointments made in Kial, said he would move Kerala high court seeking a CBI probe into the case.

Though he had filed a complaint with the vigilance court in Thalassery against seven officials of the airport including current and former managing directors, the government has not given permission for prosecution even after 100 days, he said.

There is an apparent contradiction in the government's claim, because it said Kial is not a government company and hence CAG audit is not needed. In that case, it should give it in writing that there is no government permission needed to go ahead with the vigilance probe, said the complainant.