MUMBAI: The Bombay high court vacation bench on Monday restrained Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) from making a final decision on bids invited on May 17 to replace Celebi for ground and bridge handling services at Mumbai International Airport.This decision will remain in effect until the challenge raised by an Indian arm of a Turkish firm to its security clearance revocation is heard by a regular bench after reopening.Last week, just days after moving the Delhi high court, a ground handling services subsidiary of a company headquartered in Turkey—Celebi NAS Airport Services India Pvt Ltd—approached the Bombay High Court on Wednesday against the revocation of its security clearance. The Delhi High Court, after hearing a similar plea on a day-to-day basis, reserved the matter for orders. The Delhi HC breaks for summer vacation on June 1.On Monday, the vacation single judge bench of Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan heard Celebi’s senior counsel, Chetan Kapadia, who expressed his immediate concern that the bids not be finalised, as it would cause his clients irreversible harm. Kapadia stated that the Turkish firm had two agreements, each for 30 years, with a condition for renewing them for another 30 years. The agreements were dated April 7, 2015, for bridge handling services and May 9, 2018, for ground handling services at Mumbai International Airport.The sudden and immediate revocation of clearance and the subsequent termination of services by MIAL placed Celebi in a position where it could not even approach the court for a remedy. Ordinarily, it would have been eligible to receive a 30-day notice under the contract, said Kapadia. However, senior counsel Vikram Nankani for MIAL argued that there is a special clause in the contract that allows it to act on orders of the govt of India in national security interests, where no notice is required.Nankani mentioned that as a pro-tem measure, Indo Thai was asked to operate the services with the staff and equipment of Celebi.Kapadia stated that Celebi has a staff of 2,088, whom it trained over ten years, and has invested crores for the long-term agreement it has. He emphasised that there must be a mechanism to ensure the inventory of its staff and equipment being used. Justice Sundaresan directed that the company conducting the pro-tem arrangement must hand over a report of all its operational and financial information to MIAL, which will then hand it over to Celebi.This includes all obligations that Celebi had.Celebi Airport Services India and Celebi Delhi Cargo Terminal Management India petitioned the Delhi High Court against the security clearance revocation and cancellation of contracts by the Delhi airport operator. On May 15, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), citing national security concerns, revoked the security clearance granted to Celebi Airport Services, a ground handling company headquartered in Turkey.The action followed Turkey’s support of Pakistan in recent hostilities.The company filed two petitions for the two contracts to also challenge the consequential termination of its contract. The revocation order, enforced with immediate effect, meant airlines that had given ground handling contracts to Celebi would face flight delays. Ground handling companies carry out security-sensitive jobs such as loading and unloading of bags, cargo, cleaning aircraft, fuelling, and passenger check-in.However, the govt worked with airport operators and appointed ground handling companies on an interim basis. At Mumbai airport, for instance, Indo Thai Airport Services—a certified ground handler currently operating at nine airports across India—was appointed within 24 hours of the BCAS order.