December chaos: Delhi HC asks IndiGo to file affidavit on refund, compensation

The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked IndiGo to file an affidavit on payment of refund for cancelled tickets and compensation to passengers who were stranded amid mass cancellation of its flights in December last year.

The counsel for the low-cost air carrier told a bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia that refund for the cancelled flights had been processed and compensation was also being offered in terms of the civil aviation requirements for cancellation of flights.

The counsel also said that for flights that were “most severely impacted”, Rs 10,000 was being offered as vouchers and a website has been set up for passengers to claim the compensation.

“Let an affidavit be filed by respondent no. 3 to this effect in two weeks,” said the bench. The court was hearing a public interest litigation by advocates Akhil Rana and Utkarsh Sharma seeking directions to the Centre to provide support and refunds to passengers affected by the cancellation of hundreds of flights by IndiGo in early December.

Between December 3 and 5, as per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), 2,507 flights were cancelled and 1,852 flights were delayed, impacting over three lakh passengers at airports across the country.

IndiGo cancelled hundreds of flights across the country as the airline was not adequately prepared to implement the new flight duty norms for pilots. The petitioner said Indigo was offering Rs 10,000 as a travel voucher to the stranded passengers, which would expire in some time. On being informed that the voucher has a validity of 12 months, the bench asked the IndiGo counsel to clarify what would happen to the voucher if an individual was unable to utilise it within the prescribed time frame. “Please file an affidavit,” the bench said.