Under Section 12A of the Airports Authority of India Act, 1994, a lease of airport premises made by the Authority for carrying out its functions requires which of the following as a mandatory precondition?

Section 12A(2) explicitly states that no lease under sub-section (1) shall be made without the previous approval of the Central Government. This provision empowers the Authority to lease airport premises to carry out some of its Section 12 functions in the public interest or for better management, but the proviso to Section 12A(1) carves out an exception - such leases cannot affect the Authority's core functions relating to air traffic service or watch and ward at airports and civil enclaves. Money payable by the lessee forms part of the Authority's fund under Section 12A(3) read with Section 24, and the lessee acquires all powers of the Authority necessary to perform the leased function, per Section 12A(4).