The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed a suo motu order of the Meghalaya High Court directing commercial airlines to begin flight operations from the Umroi airport near Shillong to metro cities, reports PTI.

A division bench of the High Court had on December 7 directed the Director General of Civil Aviation, the Union civil aviation secretary and the chairperson of Airports Authority of India to hold a meeting within a week to discuss making the airport operational, reported Live Law.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing the IndiGo airline, had moved the Supreme Court and said the airport at Umroi lacked infrastructure and hence flight operations cannot be commenced immediately.

Rohtagi told the Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi that it was an “extraordinary case”. “It relates to a suo motu order passed by the Meghalaya High Court that the airlines and the civil aviation authorities must give a date to start the commercial services,” he said. “There is no petition. No papers. The airport is not ready. The aircraft cannot land, no slot, no fire fighting.”

“It is not a taxi service, that you run it from here to there,” said Rohatgi, according to CNBC-TV18. Rohatgi said the High Court had passed the order without hearing the airlines and the next date of hearing was fixed for Friday, DNA reported.