Turkey-grounded airport services company Çelebi has made a court appeal against the Indian government's recent revocation of its security clearance, calling the action opaque and made on unverified national security grounds.
The revocation was made amidst growing public and political anger in India toward Turkey for seen as positioning itself along with Pakistan in the backdrop of tensions between the two South Asian countries.
On May 16, India's Çelebi Airport Services submitted a petition to the Delhi High Court, contending that the government order would not only put at risk 3,791 jobs but also erode investor confidence in India's business climate. The company complained that it received no explanation or advance notice.
"The bare mention of national security without an explanation of how the entity threatens is not legally sustainable," Çelebi wrote in the court filing, seen by Reuters but not published.
The company also contended that although its shareholders are registered in Turkey, its ultimate controlling parties are not Turkish-based and questioned the reasons for security-based disqualification.
The Indian government has yet to publicly comment on the matter. The Delhi High Court is expected to take up the case on Monday.
The controversy intensified after India’s junior aviation minister, Murlidhar Mohol, announced the decision on X (formerly Twitter), citing widespread public demand and concerns for "national interest" as the rationale for withdrawing Çelebi’s clearance.
The Shiv Sena, which is a leading party that is part of the Modi government, had previously organized protests. The protesters in Mumbai demanded the cancellation of Çelebi's contracts, claiming that the company has connections with a "hostile nation."
Çelebi, which provides ground handling operations at major Indian airports such as Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kerala, and Goa, said in its court filing that it had earlier cleared all background and security screening checks from the Indian authorities before starting operations.
Almost immediately after the revocation of the clearance, Delhi International Airport confirmed on X that it had officially terminated its association with Çelebi for ground and cargo handling services.
Independent of that, Reuters also said Air India is pushing Indian officials to prevent a leasing deal between Turkish Airlines and IndiGo on grounds of national security threats due to Turkey's support for Pakistan, and concerns for the negative impact on business competition.
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