3 months ago
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The Supreme Court connected Monday (March 23, 2026) gave the authorities a four-week leeway to respond to a petition highlighting the request for accountability successful the civilian aviation assemblage for “arbitrary” airfare hikes and cancellations, saying “there are bigger problems the authorities is handling now”, successful an oblique notation to the imaginable blowbacks from the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict.
When the lawsuit came up for proceeding earlier a Bench headed by Justice Vikram Nath, the authorities counsel said a draught effect was being circulated, but “certain planetary events” had arisen successful the meanwhile. The counsel said the planetary concern was inactive evolving.
The Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta advised elder advocator Ravindra Shrivastava and advocator Charu Mathur, for petitioner S. Laxminarayanan, to hold to an adjournment and listed the lawsuit again connected April 27.
‘Predatory’ practices
The petition had sought regulatory involution successful the civilian aviation assemblage to code fare fluctuation, fare transparency, and continuity of indispensable aerial services. It said the roller-coaster airfares resulted successful denial of mobility and an unjust imposition of fiscal load successful usurpation of the Constitutional guarantees. “Air travel, being regulated by statute, cannot beryllium subjected to predatory marketplace mechanisms,” the petitioner submitted.
It urged the tribunal to nonstop the Union authorities and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to employment their statutory authorization to stabilise tariffs and enforce work obligations.
The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) had successful mid-February submitted a effect claiming it had nary relation successful the alleviation sought by the petitioner. AERA said its sole statutory nonsubjective was the regularisation of tariffs and different charges for “aeronautical services” rendered astatine large airports.
“AERA is not a terms regulator for hose tickets and airfares charged by the airlines. The AERA Act does not confer immoderate powerfulness upon AERA to modulate hose concern models, pricing strategies, dynamic pricing, spot inventory management, ancillary hose fees, oregon route-level fare fixation, etc,” the affidavit said.
The petitioner had besides filed an interim exertion successful December past twelvemonth pursuing the Indigo airlines crisis, highlighting the “vulnerability of passengers owed to abrupt work failures”. “A sedate and unforeseen concern has emerged successful the aviation sector, peculiarly concerning IndiGo airlines, India’s largest carrier. Beginning precocious November 2025, a large-scale operational illness owed to unit shortage resulted successful monolithic cancellations and delays affecting passengers passim the country… Disruption has triggered bonzer escalation successful airfare prices. Reports from starring nationalist dailies uncover that airfares connected respective routes person risen 5 to 10 times the mean levels, forcing stranded passengers to wage exorbitant sums oregon hold indefinitely without support,” the exertion had noted.
