Are you helpless? Delhi High Court pulls up Centre on IndiGo crisis

Questioning the Centre for not taking timely action to check the crisis caused by IndiGo flight cancellations, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday wondered why the situation was allowed to precipitate, leading to lakhs of passengers getting stranded and other airlines charging hefty fares.

“The question is why, at all, this crisis arose and what have you been doing?” a Bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice TR Gedela said.

The Bench directed the government and the airline to take steps to adequately compensate the affected persons.

The court asked the authorities if they were "helpless" or they could have taken action against IndiGo after it failed to implement Flight Duty Time Limitation rules by November 1, which they blamed for the crisis.

Besides the trouble and harassment caused to the stranded passengers, the question was of the losses caused to the country's economy, it said.

"We appreciate the steps taken by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the DGCA, but what bothers us is how such a situation was allowed to precipitate, leading to the stranding of lakhs of passengers unattended at airports across the country.

"This has not only caused inconvenience to the passengers but also affected the economy, as in the present day, fast movement of passengers is an important aspect to keep the economy functioning," the bench said.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by advocates Akhil Rana and Utkarsh Sharma seeking a judicial inquiry into the IndiGo crisis and fair compensation to those affected by flight cancellations. The high court sought to know how other airlines could take undue advantage of the crisis situation and charge hefty sums for tickets from the passengers.

“The ticket which was available for Rs 5,000, the prices went up to Rs 30,000 to Rs 35,000. If there was a crisis, how could other airlines be permitted to take advantage? How can it (ticket price) go up to Rs 35,000 and Rs 39,000? How could other airlines start charging? It’s like a pound of flesh, how could this happen," it asked during over one-and-a-half-hour hearing. Posting the matter for further hearing on January 22, it said if the inquiry initiated by a committee into the disruption in flight operations over the past week was complete, its report should be submitted to the court in a sealed cover.

(With PTI inputs)