NEW DELHI, Dec 8: Woes of flyers hit by mass flight cancellations by IndiGo found a compassionate ear in the Delhi High Court, which agreed to hear one of the pleas on December 10, while the Supreme Court termed the consequent chaos a “serious matter”, but stopped short of intervening.
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said lakhs of people are stranded at the airports, even though the apex court refused to accord an urgent hearing to a plea seeking judicial intervention into the matter, saying the Centre had taken steps to address it.
IndiGo cancelled 500 flights and plans to operate 1,802 services on Monday, the civil aviation ministry said.The airline has delivered 4,500 bags out of a total of 9,000 to the passengers, and will deliver the rest in the next 36 hours, the ministry said in a statement.
When a plea concerning the cancellation of flights by IndiGo was mentioned in the top court, a bench headed by the CJI said, “It is a serious matter. Lakhs of people are stranded at the airports. We know that the government of India has taken timely action and cognisance of the issue.” The CJI, who was heading a bench comprising Justice Joymalya Bagchi, added, “We know people may have health issues and other important issues, etc.” Over the day, a separate petition seeking directions to the Centre to provide support and refunds to affected passengers was mentioned in the Delhi High Court.
A bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela listed the matter for hearing on December 10.
Before the apex court, a lawyer mentioned the issue and said there have been a lot of flight cancellations by IndiGo over the last few days, and the passengers were suffering.
“The cancellations are not informed to the flyers,” he said, adding that around 2,500 flights were delayed and flyers were hit at 95 airports across the country.
In the high court, the counsel for the petitioner said they had filed a PIL on the crisis with the airline.
When the high court pointed out that the government had already passed some directions in the matter, the counsel responded in the affirmative.
OPP WANTS STATEMENT FROM GOVT
The opposition on Monday demanded in the Lok Sabha that the government should inform the country about what it is doing in the wake of the IndiGo flight disruptions and the inconvenience being faced by the people at various airports across the country.
Speaker Om Birla said Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu will give a detailed statement on the matter in the Lower House on Monday or Tuesday.
Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi said, “Through you (the Speaker), we request the government that the Civil Aviation Ministry should tell the country through this House that why people in all airports across the country since many days (are facing trouble), there are dialysis patients, people who have weddings in their house, people who want to reach their elderly, there is chaos at the airports.” “We were told that even people wearing Hawai chappals will travel in airplanes but prices have soared to Rs 20,000, coffee (at airports) is for Rs 250 and planes are delayed. Therefore, the government should tell us what is it doing,” he said.The opposition has been attacking the government over the IndiGo flight disruptions and blaming it for the “unprecedented crisis”. (PTI)
