The Delhi High Court has refused to entertain a petition challenging the Centre order fixing minimum and maximum airfares of various sectors for three months till August 24.
A Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan said the maximum limit for airfare is given by the government, the minimum is also prescribed so as to “strike a balance between the passengers as well as the airlines agency” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The May 21 order indicates that the reason for fixing a minimum fare is to restrict travel only to the performance of essential journeys. This falls within the scope of the power of the Centre, the court said.
“Moreover, fixing of the fare is a complex phenomenon and a decision to be taken by the government. It is a policy decision and this court is not inclined to interfere in this policy decision and that too by the way of a public interest litigation,” the Bench said.
The petition filed by Veer Vikrant Chauhan had challenged the minimum fares which was fixed by Ministry of Civil Aviation through its May 21 order.
The plea highlighted class of Sector-D of the order in which the minimum fare chargeable is ₹3,500.
The plea pointed out that the fare from Delhi to Kolkata for the flight scheduled for August 4, 2020, cost of which varies from ₹2,924 to ₹3,153 and is cheaper than the minimum fare fixed by the Centre.
The petitioner argued the difference in fare prices will lead to fixation of prices by the cartel of the airlines. The court, however, said the Centre order is in operation only for a period of three months. “This is a stop-gap arrangement by the Government, for which the present public interest litigation is not tenable at law,” it said.