Delhi High Court refused to entertain another PIL pertaining to Indigo Crisis. Ask Petitioner to seek intervention in the pending PIL.

The petition filed by Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change was listed for hearing before the Delhi High Court. Mr Sandeep Sethi, Sr Adv, along with the JSA team appeared for Interglobe Aviation Limited.

At the outset, the court indicated that they have already passed a detailed order in a similar petition.

Mr Sethi, appearing for Interglobe Aviation Limited, submitted that another petition was filed by the Supreme Court and the same was dismissed by the Supreme Court granting liberty to the Petitioner therein to join the proceedings pending before the Delhi High Court.

The Petitioner’s counsel submitted that in the other petition (Akhil Rana v UOI), 4 issues were raised, however, the bench noted that the petition is insufficient in terms of facts and law and has not passed any substantial direction/ order regarding compensation. Further, the prayers sought in the present petition are different from the earlier petition as the present Petitioner is seeking compensation to the tune of 4 times the flight ticket price. The Petitioner further requested the court to direct the government to initiate class action.

The court observed that no permission is required to initiate class action and further observed that for prayer (b), there is another appropriate forum.

The court observed that there is a contradiction in the first two prayers sought by the Petition and the same are mutually destructive.

After hearing the submissions, the court indicated that there are no reasons to entertain the present Petition. Therefore, the court held that it would be appropriate for the Petitioner to file an intervention application in the pending petition (Akhil Rana v UOI and Ors). Further, the court observed that the jurisprudence on public interest litigation allows the court to enhance the scope of the petition in the interest of public.

The Petitioner requested the court to treat his writ petition as an intervention application, however, the court rejected such request.

For Petitioner- Counsel for CASC

For Ministry of Civil Aviation – Mr Chetan Sharma

For Indigo – Mr. Sandeep Sethi, Senior Advocate along with Mr. Amar Gupta, Mr Divyam Agarwal, Mr. Aniket Agarwal, Ms. Priya Chauhan, Mr. Anirudh Vats from JSA