New Delhi, 17 December (H.S.): The Delhi High Court on Wednesday declined to entertain a petition seeking a probe into the IndiGo flight cancellation crisis and fourfold compensation for affected passengers, noting that it is already seized of a prior plea on the matter.

A bench presided over by Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyay advised the petitioner, NGO Centre for Accountability and Systematic Change, to file an application to join as a party in the pending case rather than pursuing a fresh writ. The court questioned the petitioner's intent, observing that impleadment would have been readily granted had it been sought directly.

The plea had demanded an exhaustive investigation into IndiGo's operational lapses that stranded multitudes at airports, alongside refunds equivalent to four times the fare.

On December 10, the same bench had taken suo motu cognizance, interrogating IndiGo's failure to hire adequate pilots for flight duty time limitations compliance, which precipitated the disruptions. It directed the central government and IndiGo to file responses, sternly querying whether authorities were so helpless as to hesitate against errant airlines.

The court had lambasted the circumstances allowing lakhs of passengers to languish unaided at terminals, underscoring systemic aviation regulatory deficiencies.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar