Enforce Covid norms at airports, aircraft, place violators on no-fly list, Delhi HC suggests to DGCA

The court said that the pandemic has not abated and keeps “springing its ugly head” every now and then and stressed on the need to enforce and follow Covid-19 appropriate behaviour. The court said masks in a closed environment are recommended and one can use surgical masks.

The High Court last year had initiated a suo motu case regarding non-compliance of guidelines by passengers during domestic travel. One of the High Court judges had taken note of the fact that many passengers in an Air India flight from Kolkata to New Delhi on March 5 last year wore masks below their chin and showed a “stubborn reluctance” to wear them properly.

While a counsel representing the DGCA submitted that the Centre has issued an order in this regard and that they are seriously implementing the norms with regard to masking in the aircraft and at airports, the court Friday said that very often the norms are not implemented on ground. “It is, therefore, essential that the implementation on the ground is effective,” said the bench, while seeking a further action taken report from authorities.

The DGCA on March 13 last year had issued a circular requiring strict compliance of Covid-19 protocol by passengers during air travel. It had also said that in case any passenger does not adhere to wearing of a mask properly even after repeated warnings, they should be de-boarded.

On March 8, 2021, Justice C Hari Shankar had issued guidelines for passengers and said that a passenger should be put on a “no-fly” list in case of repeated refusal to follow Covid-19 protocol.

While asking in-flight crew to carry out periodical checks of the aircraft to ensure that all passengers are complying with Covid protocol, the court in the order passed on March 8 had said any passenger unwilling to follow protocol prior to the flight taking off should be offloaded without delay.

“If a passenger, despite being reminded more than once in flight, refuses to follow this protocol, action should be taken against the passenger in accordance with guidelines issued by the DGCA or Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, including placing the passenger on a ‘no-fly’ regimen, either permanently or for a stipulated, sufficiently long, period,” the court said in the order.