Supreme Court allows Air India to operate without leaving middle seat vacant till June 6

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed Air India to operate without leaving the middle seat vacant for a period of 10 days till June 6, post which the country's national carrier will have to comply to the Bombay High Court order. The top court was hearing an urgent plea by the Centre and Air India against the Bombay HC seeking their responses in a plea for not maintaining adequate safety measures to check COVID-19 in flights to bring back Indians stranded abroad.

'DGCA and Air India are free to alter any norms...'

CJI Bobde said that the DGCA and Air India are free to alter any norms it may consider appropriate during the pendency of the matter. A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy took up the matter through video conferencing at 10.30. The top court was not scheduled to function on Monday on account of Eid-ul-Fitr. However, two separate petitions were filed at around 9 pm on Sunday.

READ | Centre, Air India move SC against Bombay HC order to keep middle seats vacant in flights

Both -- the Centre and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and Air India -- were aggrieved at the Bombay High Court's order of May 24 questioning them over not keeping the middle seat vacant in flights used to bring back stranded Indians from abroad.

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A pilot, Deven Yogesh Kanani, and others have moved the High Court saying the circular issued on March 23 for keeping the middle seat vacant was not being adhered to by Air India. The plea claimed the airline neglected the safety protocol. Special flights were being operated since May 7 to evacuate Indians stuck abroad through Vande Bharat mission.

The Centre argued that keeping the middle seat vacant wouldn't necessarily have the desired effect, citing expert determinations, and also that a lot of the time, the middle seat can be given to persons who are travelling together, who don't need mutual isolation.

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The Air India counsel claimed the previous circular has been superseded by another circular issued on May 22, allowing the use of middle seat while keeping precautions. The High Court, however, felt the May 22 circular apparently applied to the domestic flights. It sought a response from both the Centre and Air India and kept the matter for consideration on June 2.

READ | Bombay HC directs Air India to vacant middle seats on international flights

(With PTI inputs)