The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a PIL seeking direction to the Centre and IndiGo airline to pay a compensation of four times the full ticket price to all passengers whose tickets were cancelled in November and December after the roll out of the new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL).
The PIL was filed by NGO Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC) seeking an inquiry against the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for the Indigo fiasco and also seeking fourfold compensation to passengers who were left stranded at airports due to the cancellation of Indigo flights.
A bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said it has already taken cognisance of the issue while hearing another Public Interest Litigation (PIL) and granted liberty to the petitioner to seek intervention in the pending petition. "We don't see any reason as to why the concerns raised here cannot be taken up with the earlier petition. The jurisprudence developed by the Supreme Court and high courts around PILs permits the court to expand the scope of a petition in public interest..."We decline to entertain this petition with liberty to the petitioner to seek intervention in the pending petition. The writ petition stands disposed of," the bench said.
According to the petition filed by the Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC) through its president Prof Vikram Singh, the IndiGo fiasco has triggered widespread concern across the aviation sector, and due to sudden disruption and last-minute cancellation of thousands of flights, stranded passengers faced severe inconvenience.
Advocate Virag Gupta, representing the petitioner, said airports were overflowing with misdirected pieces of baggage, excessive holdups, inadequate communication from the airline and confusion regarding refunds or re-booking options.The plea also sought an enquiry by a retired judge or Lokpal to identify the negligence and lapses of the Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in triggering the crisis.
At the outset of the hearing, the bench said it recently dealt with the issues in another petition that is still underway and no final adjudication has been made.The petitioner's counsel claimed that the issues raised by the court in the earlier petition were not addressed yet. He pressed for the prayers raised in his plea, contending that over 12.5 lakh passengers suffered due to over 5,000 flight cancellations in December and the refunds have not been processed.
As the counsel continued to argue, the bench asked, "Why are you so charged? Are parties restricted from raising these points in the earlier petition? What benefit will you or the stranded passengers get by multiplicity of petitions? Why can't you file an impleadment application in the earlier petition?" The bench further said PILs are not to score "brownie points".
Follow us
