IndiGo crisis serious matter, says SC, Delhi HC agrees to hear plea on Dec 10

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.

“Several people are stuck. The ground situation at airports is inhumane. We are expecting the court to pass orders to IndiGo and ground support staff for people stranded at the airports.

There is no proper system for refunds,” he said.

When the High Court pointed out that the Government had already passed some directions in the matter, the counsel responded in the affirmative.

The bench said the PIL will be listed for hearing on December 10.

IndiGo has been facing heat from both the Centre and the passengers for cancelling hundreds of flights since December 2, citing regulatory changes in the pilots’ flight duty and regulations norms. The disruptions have left lakhs of passengers stranded at airports across the country.

Over 250 IndiGo flights were cancelled from Delhi and Bengaluru airports on Monday as the disruptions of the airline’s flight operations entered the seventh day, sources said.

At the Delhi airport, 134 flights were cancelled — 75 departures and 59 arrivals -- while at the Bengaluru airport, the carrier cancelled 117 services — 65 arrivals and 62 departures, they said.