New Delhi, Oct 1: The Supreme Court on Thursday put its stamp of approval on the proposal prepared by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for the airlines to refund air tickets booked for flights cancelled due to Covid-19-induced lockdown.
The decision contains directions including an immediate refund and grant of credit shell for utilisation till March 31, 2021.
A bench presided over by Justice Ashok Bhushan said, we feel that such formulations are workable solutions in the peculiar circumstance prevailing in the country.
Disposing of a PIL filed by NGO Pravasi Legal Cell, the bench, also comprising Justices R Subhash Reddy and M R Shah, noted in the ordinary course, modalities for refund of tickets would have been governed by Civil Aviation Requirements (CARs) under the Aircraft Act but its strict enforcement at this moment may not yield any meaningful result for any stakeholder.
"We cannot lose sight of the present situation prevailing in the country and across the globe, i.e. the effect of Covid-19 pandemic. It cannot be disputed that the civil aviation sector, which is one of the important sectors, is seriously affected in view of the ban imposed for operating flights," the bench said.
"Added to the same, air passenger traffic has come down heavily and which is gradually being restored. At this moment, any strict enforcement action of the CARs would further restrict or reduce their operations and such enforcement action may further jeopardise the possibilities of generation of cash by airlines which can further adversely affect or delay the refund cycle," the bench added.
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