By Arpan Chaturvedi
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India’s government told a court on Thursday it was well within New Delhi’s legal powers to revoke Turkey-based Celebi’s clearance to provide aviation ground services without giving it advance warning, given the matter concerned national security.
Celebi’s clearance was cancelled by India last week amid growing public anger after Turkey supported Pakistan in the recent India-Pakistan conflict. Indians have also been boycotting everything from Turkish coffee, jams and chocolates to Turkey holidays.
Celebi asked the Delhi High Court this week to quash the cancellation by arguing it was issued without any warning and based on “vague” and unexplained “national security” concerns, but Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said on Thursday it did not need to share details of its reasons with the company.
Indian courts have previously held that in some cases national security concerns can outweigh the requirement of fairness and in this case, there was no need to comply with principles of natural justice, he said.
“In some situations, it is not possible to give reasons of action and neither giving a hearing is possible,” Mehta said in the court in Indian government’s first detailed remarks on Celebi’s challenge.
The Indian government handed some details to Justice Sachin Datta in a sealed envelope. The case will next be heard on Friday.
Earlier in the day, Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for India’s foreign ministry, said the Celebi matter had been discussed with the Turkish embassy in New Delhi.
Celebi argued in its court filing that the decision impacts 3,791 jobs and investor confidence. It added that it provided ground handling services at airports in New Delhi, Kerala, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Goa.
In defending Celebi’s cancellation, Mehta also argued on Thursday that airport ground operators have detailed access to the physical infrastructure as well as passenger details including VIP movements.
(Reporting by Arpan Chaturvedi; Editing by Aditya Kalra, William Maclean)
