"It Seems Arbitrary": SC Issues Notice On Plea Seeking Full Refund For Flight Tickers Cancelled During Lockdown

The Supreme Court today issued notice in a plea seeking appropriate directions to airlines for a full refund of the ticket amount in relation to all flights cancelled due to the nationwide lockdown.

NGO Pravasi Legal Cell's petition, filed through advocate Jose Abraham, argued that airlines must provide a full refund for tickets which were not only booked after the lockdown was announced, but even for those flights which were booked prior to that and got cancelled due to the same. It was further urged that the action of non-refund by airlines of the full amount collected for tickets due to cancellation was arbitrary and in violation of the Civil Aviation Requirement issued by Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

The Bench comprising of Justices NV Ramana, SK Kaul and BR Gavai appeared to agree with this argument and sought a response from the Civil Aviation Ministry and the DGCA.

"It does seem arbitrary that refunds are being issued only to those who booked tickets after the lockdown was enforced. The relief should be entitled to everyone whose flights were cancelled because of lockdown, irrespective of the period of booking", observed Justice Kaul.

The petition had contended that the office memorandum of the Civil Aviation Ministry, dated 16.04.2020, for the full refund of only those who had tickets booked during lockdown, leaving out those who booked tickets prior to the lockdown, even though flights were cancelled is antithetical to basic Constitutional tenets.

The petitioner also averred that instead of providing full refund of the amount collected, the action of Airlines of providing mandatory "Credit Shell" is in clear violation of the DGCA requirements according to which the option of refund is "the prerogative of the passenger and not a default practice of the Airline".