The Supreme Court issued a notice to the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation on a petition seeking both domestic and international airlines to refund the complete amount of the tickets in relation to all flights cancelled due to the nationwide lockdown.
A bench headed by Justice NV Ramana and comprising Justices SK Kaul and BR Gavai, while hearing the matter through video conferencing, making an oral observation said that the non-refund on the tickets booked for air travel after the lockdown was “arbitrary.”
The plea has been moved by Pravasi Legal Cell through advocate Jose Abraham. The plea urged the top court to declare non-refund of the amount of the tickets by airlines as illegal and violative of the Civil Aviation Requirement issued by the DGCA.
The plea cited the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MCA) office memorandum, which directed all airline operators to refund the full amount collected for all tickets booked during the first phase of the lockdown period, from March 25 to April 14, for domestic and international air travel.
The MCA memorandum said if a passenger seeks refund during the first lockdown phase for travel during the second lockdown period (from April 15 to May 3), still the airline has to refund the full amount without imposing any cancellation costs.
