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SC notice to Centre, DGCA plea for full refund of cancelled air tickets due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
Due to the pandemic, all air and railway passenger travels have been suspended. Notice was issued by the Supreme Court to the Centre and DGCA on a plea seeking directions to airlines in India to refund the full amount of tickets which were cancelled during the time of lockdown and due to the limitations imposed due to the spread of COVID-19.
The ministry of civil aviation issued a notice on 16th of April that airlines will have to refund the full amount to all who booked tickets from 25th March to 14th April for Travel between 25th March and 3rd May, without imposing any charge for cancellation. The ministry has also directed the DGCA to make sure that the airlines comply with these guidelines.
A bench of three judges led by Justice N V Ramana, heard the matter through video-conferencing and issued notices to the Centre and the DGCA on the plea and declared that the action of not refunding the full amount of air tickets which were cancelled is a violation of the civil aviation requirement.
It has been observed that instead of providing a refund of the entire value of the ticket due to cancellations, the airlines are providing a credit shell valid up to a year which is a violation of the Civil Aviation Requirement of May 2008 by DGCA which mentions that holding a credit shell is not a default practice and should be done only at the option of the passenger said the plea filed by the NGO 'Pravasi Legal Cell'.
A limit of 30 working days for airlines to finish the refund process through travel agents or portal has been put up in the Civil Aviation Requirement of 2008. The plea has emphasized the ministry of civil aviation on 16th of April to refund the entire value of cancelled tickets with a levy of cancellation charges. It is referred in the plea that the memorandum with guidelines to refund full amount only to passengers who booked their tickets during the first phase of the lockdown leaving out people who booked their tickets before the lockdown which is a violation of the fundamental rights.
It is completely devoid of any logic that after imposing the lockdown knowing that all scheduled flights are suspended, anybody would book tickets. Thus the memorandum of the ministry of civil aviation is ambiguous said the plea.
