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The court said that after June 6, Air India will
operate its non-scheduled flights in accordance with the interim order to be
passed by the Bombay High Court.
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Agencies
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on
Monday (May 25) allowed Air India to keep operating its non-scheduled flights
with its middle seats filled for the next ten days, till June 6, to bring back
Indians stranded abroad. The court observed that the government should be more
worried about the health of citizens rather than the health of commercial
airlines.
The court said that after June 6, Air India will operate its
non-scheduled flights in accordance with the interim order to be passed by the
Bombay High Court.
The Centre and Air India had moved the apex court
challenging the interim order of the High Court by which it had questioned the
airline for not keeping the middle seats vacant in international flights.
A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopana
and Hrishikesh Roy, which took up the appeals filed urgently through video
conferencing despite the holiday for Eid, remanded the matter back to the High
Court with a request to pass an effective interim order after hearing all
concerned on the date fixed by it, i.E. June 2, 2020, or soon thereafter.
The bench observed that authorities must consider the
importance of maintaining social distancing as shoulder to shoulder sitting is
dangerous, due to the contagious pandemic. The bench said normally it is not
inclined to interfere with the interim orders made by the courts below.
The bench said it would consider it necessary for the High
Court to arrive at a prima facie finding regarding the safety and health of the
passengers qua the COVID-19 virus, whether the flight is a scheduled flight or
a non-scheduled flight. "We make it clear that the Director General of
Civil Aviation is free to alter any norms he may consider necessary during the
pendency of the matter in the interest of public health and safety of the
passengers rather than of commercial considerations," the bench said in
its order, while disposing of the appeal.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Centre and Air
India, said that due to the directions of the High Court a lot of anxiety and
difficulties have arisen among the passengers who are stranded on foreign soil
after they were issued tickets for travel. "Moreover, in some cases, the
travel plans of families who were travelling together have been disrupted
because those in the families who had middle seats have to be off loaded and
remain behind," the bench said, while noting the submissions of Mehta, who
said that passengers stranded abroad are facing difficulty due to want of
proper shelter and money.
The bench said it would consider it necessary for the High
Court to arrive at a prima facie finding regarding the safety and health of the
passengers qua the COVID-19 virus, whether the flight is a scheduled flight or
a non-scheduled flight. It said institutional quarantine for seven days and
seven days home quarantine is compulsory for those who have been brought back
to India. The bench observed that there should not be any difference between
international and domestic flights as far as social distancing is concerned.
"Will the virus know it is in the aircraft and it is
not supposed to infect," the bench observed, adding that there might be
chances of transmission if people are sitting next to each other.
The high court had on May 22 sought response from Air India
and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on a petition of Air India
pilot Deven Kanani, who had claimed that the airline was not following safety
measures for COVID-19 while bringing back Indians stranded abroad. The pilot,
Deven Kanani, in his plea claimed that a circular issued by the Government of
India on March 23, 2020 laid some conditions to prevent the spread of COVID-19
while bringing back Indians stranded abroad due to the pandemic.
However, the condition pertaining to keeping the middle seat
between two passengers empty was not being followed by the Air India, he said
in the plea. Kanani had submitted photographs of an Air India flight operated
between San Francisco and Mumbai where all seats were occupied.
The High Court had directed Air India and DGCA to file
affidavits clarifying their stand and posted the petition for further hearing
on June 2.
The court had also allowed Kanani to amend his petition to
challenge the circular of May 22.
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