Don’t dismiss fliers’ issues, says court

The Bombay High Court on Thursday expressed sympathy for the air travellers and told the airport authorities that they (airport authorities) could not dismiss their issues saying that they are technical matters.

The Bombay High Court on Thursday expressed sympathy for the air travellers and told the airport authorities that they (airport authorities) could not dismiss their issues saying that they are technical matters.

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The court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Resources for Aviation Redressal Association which had raised issues on traffic congestion, wastage of fuel and security of passengers.

The PIL said the operational polices adopted by MIAL is resulting in minimising and jeopardising the security of passengers to generate more revenue.

The PIL also alleged that the authorities are ignoring the alarming rate of air congestion though empowered to control wastage of aviation fuel.

However, when the lawyer representing the airport authorities told the court that these were technical issues and there are a number of reasons pertaining to this Justice S.C. Dharmadhikari said even he has faced delays at least on 10 occasions where the flight takes off at time but there is a delay at the arrival. “Don’t say it’s technical, its in public interest,” said Justice Dharmadhikari.

Director General of Civil Aviation, in its affidavit, told the court that they give permissions to airlines only after checking the preparedness in the areas of operations, maintenance, safety and security.

In the affidavit, DGCA said that the Ministry of Civil Aviation has approved a procedure for slot allocations at the Airports Authority of India (AAI) owned airports.

The petition is likely to come up for hearing on August 3.