Delhi HC refuses to entertain PIL seeking additional compensation to IndiGo flyers

The bench opined that the issue was already being examined in another case and that multiple proceedings would not serve the passenger’s interests

The Delhi high court on Wednesday declined to entertain a petition seeking directions to the Centre, and crisis hit IndiGo airline to pay four times the full ticket price as compensation to all passengers whose tickets were cancelled during recent flight disruptions.

The airline had recently faced a major disruption in its operations, which had triggered thousands of flight cancellations. (HT file photo)

Dealing with a petition filed by Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC), a bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyay and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela opined that the issue was already being examined in another case and that multiple proceedings would not serve the passenger’s interests.

To be sure, last week, the court, while dealing with a different petition filed by two advocates seeking a judicial inquiry into the mass cancellation of flights, and the compensation and ground support for the stranded passengers on December 10, had directed IndiGo to compensate passengers not only for flight cancellations, but for the hardship they endured. It had further instructed the Centre to continue taking measures to restore normalcy at the earliest, while emphasising that passenger safety must not be compromised in the process.

“The same issue we examined in detail and passed the same order. Why should we deal with this issue again and again? What benefits are you or the passengers going to get by multiplicity of proceedings?” the bench said to CASC’s lawyer Virag Gupta.

This came after CASC’s counsel informed the court that refunds had still not been processed despite directions issued in another public interest litigation, and that only a notice had been sent to the airline’s CEO. However, the Centre’s lawyer, additional solicitor general Chetan Sharma, opposed the demand to fix compensation only at four times the amount.

Though the court declined to consider the petition, it permitted CASC’s lawyer to file an application seeking intervention in the writ filed by two advocates. “This court has already taken cognisance of a PIL, and the issues raised in this can be dealt with in the said writ, and we find it appropriate to require the petitioner to seek intervention in the said writ,” the court said.

The airline had recently faced a major disruption in its operations, which had triggered thousands of flight cancellations and chaos across major airports.

IndiGo, which commands over 60% of India’s domestic aviation market, cited a convergence of crises, pilot shortages, cascading delays from an Airbus A320 software advisory, the enforcement of new FTDL fatigue rules and an aggressive winter schedule since October 26.

The new FDTL norms, designed to enhance pilot rest and reduce night operations, forced hundreds of pilots into mandatory downtime after cumulative delays from the previous weekend violated midnight cut-offs. The airline’s high-utilisation model collapsed without staffing buffers. Amid the ongoing crisis, the government had suspended the new pilot rest norms temporarily, imposed airfare caps to prevent price escalation and deployed additional trains to move stranded travellers.

On Tuesday, DGCA had told the high court that all variations and relaxations granted to airlines from the new pilot fatigue management norms will end within “six months,” as the regulator works to ensure full compliance with the Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) on FDTL issued in 2024.