CCPD Fines Air India ₹50,000, Recommends ₹5 Lakh Compensation For De-Boarding Wheelchair User

New Delhi: The Court of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities has fined Air India Limited ₹50,000 and recommended it pay ₹5,00,000 in compensation to a wheelchair-user with 80% locomotor disability who was de-boarded from a connecting flight after she had already taken her seat.

Commissioner S. Govindaraj, deciding Case No. CCPD-OF-0002/1111/2026 filed by Ms. Falguni Maheshwari against Air India, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Delhi International Airport Limited, recorded that after completing a Frankfurt-Delhi leg without incident, the complainant was questioned on her connecting Delhi-Bhuj flight, asked for a “Fit to Fly” certificate, and de-boarded, with her powered wheelchair returned damaged.

While Air India contended that the offloading was a safety-driven decision necessitated by on-board observations, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, on examining the airline's own comments, found that Para 4.1.36 of the applicable Civil Aviation Requirements obliges an airline to have a passenger “examined by a Doctor in person” before refusing carriage and to give written reasons “immediately.” DGCA confirmed that Air India “failed to have the Complainant examined in person by a doctor” and also failed to furnish written reasons.

Examining the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, the Court held that reasonable accommodation under Section 3(5) is “an affirmative obligation and not . . . a discretionary facility,” and that any differential treatment of a disabled passenger must be shown to be a “proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim” under Section 3(3).

Relying on Jeeja Ghosh v. Union of India, in which the Supreme Court had found the de-boarding of a passenger with cerebral palsy to reflect a “total lack of sensitivity,” the Commissioner held that compliance with technical procedure “cannot, by itself, justify conduct which humiliates, degrades or disproportionately burdens a passenger with disability.”

Noting an earlier consumer forum award of ₹1,00,000 against Vistara, now merged into Air India, for a similar denial-of-boarding incident, the Court held that “a mere direction for corrective action would not adequately serve the ends of deterrence and institutional accountability,” and invoked Section 89 of the RPwD Act to levy a fine of ₹50,000 on Air India.

The Court further recommended that Air India pay ₹5,00,000 to the complainant towards the mental agony, humiliation and financial hardship suffered, inclusive of wheelchair repair and travel costs, and directed the airline to conduct an internal examination, sensitise its staff, and submit an Action Taken Report within 60 days.

Appearances: Ms. Falguni Maheshwari, along with Adv. Amar Jain and Adv. Sarah, appeared for the Complainant. Ms. Amla Halder, Legal Counsel, appeared for Respondent No. 1, Air India Limited. Mr. B.K. Singh, AD, DGCA, appeared for Respondent No. 2. Ms. Somya Yadava, Manager (Litigation), appeared for Respondent No. 3, Delhi International Airport Limited.

Case Title: Falguni Maheshwari vs. Air India Limited and Others