The Delhi High Court on May 1, 2019, issued notice to Jet Airways in a plea seeking refund or alternative mode of travel to passengers who had booked tickets with Jet Airways.
A Division Bench comprising of Chief JusticeRajendra Menon and JusticeAnup J. Bhambhani has also asked the Centre and Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to respond on the plea by next date of hearing on July 16, 2019.
The plea filed by activist Bejon Kumar on April 22, 2019, has sought direction to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Civil Aviation to ensure refund or alternate travel arrangements for passengers who had booked tickets with the airways which has shut all domestic and international flights.
In his plea, Mr. Kumar said that the sudden suspension of all flights of Jet Airways has resulted in a major crisis for the passengers who were not informed about it earlier.
“It is common knowledge that all competitor airlines have exorbitantly increased their airfares and the toothless and vulnerable consumers are constrained to suffer not only in terms of money, but also in terms of mental harassment of unprecedented scale,” the plea said.
Further, the plea also said that “The passengers have to not only purchase alternative tickets at highly exorbitant cost, but also go through lots of anxieties and mental agony. This has resulted in profiteering by other airlines at the cost of the passengers and till date no relief has been announced by the respondents (Centre and DGCA).”
“There is a complete chaotic aviation crisis looming over the country where the consumers/passengers are victim on account of absence of any robust and effective regulator in the aviation sector in India to regulate the functioning of the airlines in a fair and ethical manner in order to monitor and regulate airfares,” the plea said.
“It is submitted that as per the report available in the public domain, approximately more than ₹360 crore of the passengers/consumers hard earned money are under threat due to non-refund of the ticket value,” it added.
The plea also called for amendments to the existing laws to make airlines liable for all the damages caused to the passengers and the reputation of our country.
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