The Sharjah-based All India Airport Users' Forum (AIAUF) has criticised the Malabar International Airport Develop-ment Society (MIADS) for not withdrawing the airport user's fee charged at Kozhikode airport a month after the announcement to do so.

Ramila Sukhdev, chairperson of the AIAUF Kerala Chapter, said as chairman of the Malabar Airport Development Society, it is the responsibility of Kerala Chief Minister A.K. Antony to get the fee withdrawn immediately.

Roy Paul, Civil Aviation Secretary and Chairman of Air-India, had announced a month ago at Kozhikode that the fee would be withdrawn immediately. However, the decision is still awaiting the federal cabinet's approval.

Referring to Paul's statement – that it would be easier to scrap the fee if the cases filed against it are withdrawn – Sukhdev said the AIAUF would not withdraw the case it had filed at the Vigilance Court in Kozhikode until and unless the authorities present the accounts regarding the fee collected all these years and reimburse passengers, as promised earlier.

The organisation filed a case in the Kozhikode Vigilance Court against the chief minister and Kozhikode District Collector as they are MIADS office-bearers.

"We suspect misappropriation of the funds collected through the user's fee," she said. "From 1996 to 2002, the authorities have collected around Rs600 million from the passengers who used the airport.

"The District Collector had said the Airport Authority of India (AAI) has paid more than Rs330 million up to May 2002 towards the principal amount of the Rs600 million loan taken from the Housing and Urban Development Corp for the runway expansion work," she added.

K.M. Bashier, general convener of the AIAUF, said Kozhikode airport's income has been on a steady increase since 1996.

"There were only 19 direct international flights operating from Kozhikode in 1996, whereas the number has now increased to 34, in addition to 35 via Mumbai. This shows the authorities are in a strong position to pay up all the dues," he said.

He stressed the organisation would not sit quietly until MIADS reveals the fiscal accounts to the people, while charging Paul's statement was part of the authorities' move to discourage the fight for fee reimbursement.

The user's fee of Rs500 charged from every international passenger at the airport was reduced to Rs375 in January 2001.

The user's fee first started being levied in October 1995.