SC seeks reply from Centre, others on plea over airfare fluctuations

The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Centre and others on a plea seeking binding regulatory guidelines to control the “unpredictable fluctuations” in airfare and ancillary charges imposed by private airlines in India.

- OUR CORRESPONDENT

The apex court agreed to hear the petition filed by social activist § Laxminarayanan, who has sought to establish a robust, independent regulator that ensures transparency and passenger protection across the civil aviation sector.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta issued notices to the Centre, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India seeking their responses on the plea and posted the matter for hearing after four weeks.

Senior advocate Ravindra Srivastava and advocates Charu Mathur and Abhinav Verma appeared for the petitioner in the matter.

The plea claimed that all private airlines have, without any credible justification, reduced the free check-in baggage allowance for economy class passengers from 25 kg to 15 kg, “thereby converting what was earlier part of the ticketed service into a new revenue stream’.