Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to give any direction on a PIL filed by NGO Center for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC). In this petition, there was a demand for investigation against the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for the IndiGo case and 4 times compensation to the passengers stranded at the airport due to cancellation of IndiGo flights.
A bench of Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said that a PIL on the IndiGo flight cancellation case is already pending in the High Court and the petitioner should have sought implementation in that case instead of filing a new PIL.
Why denial of hearing?
The court questioned the petitioner’s motive behind the PIL and said that the best course for the petitioner would have been to seek implementation in the pending PIL. The court said that PILs are not meant to take advantage. You should have taken implementation in that case and we would have allowed it. The court also said in its order that the issues raised in this PIL are already being considered by the court in the earlier PIL. Therefore, the court refused to hear the PIL and gave liberty to the petitioner to involve itself in the pending case.
The court said in its order that this court has already taken note of this issue and the issues raised in this petition can very well be addressed in this writ petition. Therefore, we feel that the petitioner is right to join the writ petition. However, the petitioner’s lawyer says that the prayer here is different. We see no reason why the concerns raised in this PIL cannot be addressed in the earlier PIL. The jurisprudence on PIL created by the Supreme Court and various High Courts across the country allows the court to expand the scope of the petition if it appears to be in the public interest. For this reason, we refuse to hear this writ petition and give freedom to the petitioner to join the earlier PIL.
In fact, the court had heard the pending PIL related to the Indigo crisis on December 10, when the court had ordered Indigo to ensure compensation to the affected passengers. In that case, the court had directed the central government to take action against the erring airlines. The new petition by the Center for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC) says that IndiGo’s non-compliance with the changed Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) rules led to an aviation crisis across the country, due to which more than 5,000 flights were cancelled.
What was said in the petition?
The petition said that due to this blockage, passengers were stranded at major airports and received complaints of lack of communication, delay in refunds and huge increase in air fares despite the limit imposed by the government. In the petition, a demand has been made to direct the Central Government to initiate a class action suit against IndiGo under Section 2(5)(iii) and 35(1)(d) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
According to the petition, the DGCA has failed in its duty and hence, a retired judge or Lokpal should investigate its negligence and its role in escalating the crisis. During the hearing on the petition, lawyer Virag Gupta, appearing for the petitioner organization, said that 12.5 lakh passengers have suffered losses due to the actions of IndiGo. He further said that the government should initiate a class action suit against the airline as not all passengers have the capacity to approach consumer forums for compensation. Not everyone can go to consumer court.
The court asked to explain the law to us. If there is a class action suit, will everyone have to go to the consumer court? Virag Gupta said that despite the court’s instructions in another PIL, refund has not been given yet. They are not giving any compensation. Four times compensation is part of their policy. They have not given any refund.
Intervening on behalf of the Central Government, Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma said why are you limiting it to four times. It could be four thousand times. Virag Gupta said that till date, no notice has been issued to Indigo. Notice has been issued to the CEO.
How will you insist for four times compensation?
However, the court said that since a case is pending on this subject, passengers may not be able to get help due to multiple cases. The court asked what benefit the passengers would get if there were so many cases. Why don’t you demand to join the earlier PIL? The court also said that the petitioner was requesting the Central Government to initiate a class action case and direct it to pay four times the compensation. The bench said that both the prayers cannot go together because if a class action suit is initiated, it would be up to the concerned consumer forum to decide the amount of compensation.
The court asked whether there was any legal method to determine the damages to be awarded? For class action, if a class action is filed, will this court be able to proceed with awarding compensation? Your prayers are for damages and class action. You can emphasize only one of them. If you are asking us to direct the Central Government to initiate a class action, the amount will be decided by the Consumer Court. From this perspective, how would you push for four times the compensation? Ultimately the court refused to hear the petition.
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