HC disposes of plea challenging NOC to overground Metro near airport

Mumbai: The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) informed the Bombay High Court (HC) that it had taken care of the safety measures required to be taken by flight operators during take-off from the Juhu airport before the No Objection Certificate (NOC) was given to the MMRDA for construction of the Metro-2b rail corridor near the Juhu aerodrome.

The assurance was given in an affidavit filed with the DGCA by the deputy director of operations Shruti Mishra, before a division bench of Acting Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice SG Chapalgaonkar on Thursday. The HC was hearing a PIL filed by Harit Desai, a social worker and Juhu resident, challenging construction of the overground Metro-2B corridor (DN Nagar to Mankhurd), passing through Swami Vivekanand (SV) Road in the vicinity of Juhu aerodrome. The PIL claimed the NOC was in violation of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (Height Restrictions for Safeguarding of Aircraft Operations) Rules, 2015.

An exception was taken to the declaration by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and the TORA (take-off run available) was reduced to 645m after displacing 487m, from a runway length of 1,132m. Counsel for the DGCA, Rui Rodrigues said safety measurements required to be taken care of have been complied with. “Also, we have ensured that it is insulated from a future point of view,” he added.

The DGCA affidavit was filed pursuant to an earlier HC direction asking it to place on record the safety measures it plans to take for the safety of at least 1,260 flights and 2,500 passengers that use runway 08 of the aerodrome on an average per year. “For the safety of the aircraft operations at Juhu airport, the aerodrome operator was advised to do the safety assessment with reference to the displaced threshold,” it said. The exercise was conducted by the AAI and it submitted a report to DGCA stating that safety measurements were in order.

In view of the affidavit, the HC disposed of the PIL saying that necessary safety measures have been taken care of.

Safety measures required to be taken care of have been complied with. Also, we have ensured that it is insulated from a future point of view

– Rui Rodrigues, Counsel for the DGCA

Operations on Runway 8 may be affected

Runway reduced from 1132m to 645m

Runway Used By (annually)

Flights                Passengers

1,260                   2,500