New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined an urgent hearing to a plea seeking a cap on sharply increased domestic airfares ahead of the festive season, with Justice Vikram Nath telling the applicant's counsel to “don't travel by air”.
The application, filed in a pending public interest litigation (PIL), sought early intervention against what it described as inflated airline fares. It pointed out that the matter was listed for hearing on November 16, by which time travel for Diwali, Bhai Dooj and Chhath Puja would have concluded.
Justice Nath, heading a three-judge bench, declined the request and proceeded to the next matter.
Social activist S Laxminarayanan had filed the PIL last year, alleging arbitrary and opaque pricing by airlines, particularly during festivals.
The issue had earlier come up before the court in January, when Justice Nath described the steep fares during the Kumbh and other festivals as “exploitation” and indicated that the court would intervene. On May 15, a bench of Justices Nath and Sandeep Mehta told the Centre that there had to be some rationalisation of airfares.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), had informed the court that the government was framing rules under the Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam, 2024. The bench had, however, stressed the need for urgent relief, citing instances of different airlines charging Rs 8,000 and Rs 18,000 for economy-class seats on the same route on the same day.
In the fresh application, Laxminarayanan cited media reports of fares on several major routes rising to two to seven times their usual levels.
While airlines attribute higher fares to the cost of aviation turbine fuel, the applicant argued that fuel-price increases could justify only marginal revisions, not fares several times the normal rate.
He contended that demand-based pricing of this scale was exploitative and inconsistent with the regulation of essential services. Citing capped railway flexi-fares, regulated prices of essential medicines and electricity tariffs fixed by regulatory commissions, he argued that air travel should not be an exception.
The application also described air transport as an essential service under the Essential Services Maintenance Act, 1981, and said its pricing should not remain wholly unregulated.