Judge was appalled by what he saw on Kolkata-Delhi flight; issues 7-point order – Hindustan Times

A judge of the Delhi High Court who watched passengers pull down their masks on board during a Kolkata-Delhi flight last week has issued a set of guidelines that empowers the cabin crew to offload passengers who do not properly wear their masks. If the plane has already taken off, the judge ordered action should be taken against delinquent passengers that could include permanently barring them from flying.

Justice C Hari Shankar also told airlines to amend their inflight announcement. The judge said they should not only remind passengers that they must properly wear their masks, which they already do, but should also underline the penal action that will follow if they don’t adhere to the protocol.

Justice Shankar had travelled on a flight from Kolkata to Delhi on 5 March (Friday) and was appalled by the lack of compliance to the Covid-19 protocol; primarily the rule that requires passengers to wear a mask covering their nose and mouth at all times. Once he reached home, the judge tried looking for the official orders for flyers but had trouble locating them on the aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) website.

He did find some news reports on the rule allowing airlines to put flyers who do not wear masks on a no-fly list.

On Monday, the judge took suo motu notice of his experience and initiated a case that is being treated as public interest litigation by the high court.

“It was noticed that, though all the passengers had worn masks, many passengers had worn the masks below their chin and were exhibiting a stubborn reluctance to wear their masks properly,” the judge wrote in his eight-page order, detailing his experience.

“It was only on repeated entreaties made (by me) to the offending passengers that they condescended to wear their masks properly,” the judge said, pointing that when he asked the cabin crew why they didn’t enforce the rule, they claimed that they were helpless.

This situation, the judge said, was “completely unconscionable” at a time when the country is seeing a resurgence of Covid-19 cases. “Passengers in a flight are in a closed air-conditioned environment, and, even if one of the passengers suffers from Covid, the effect on other passengers could be cataclysmic”.

The high court issued a set of seven guidelines for airlines, passengers and the aviation regulator.

1. The DGCA will prominently reflect the protocols for passengers and in-flight crew on the website’s homepage.
2. All airlines should ensure that written instructions regarding the protocol to be followed by passengers is handed out along with the boarding pass. This should include the measures that could be taken against them on failure to follow the protocols. The in-flight announcements which, presently, merely require the passengers to wear masks, should be modified to include a cautionary word about the penal action that could follow in case of non-compliance.
3. In-flight crew can carry out checks to ensure all passengers are complying with the protocol including the one that requires a mask should cover the nose and mouth of passengers
4. If any passenger is unwilling to follow the protocol before the flight takes off, the person should be offloaded without delay. If a passenger, despite being reminded more than once in a flight refuses to follow this protocol, action should be taken according to guidelines including placing passengers on a “no-fly’ regimen, either permanently or for a stipulated, sufficiently long, period.
5. The DGCA may consider sending random observers on flights, without prior information, to ensure compliance.
6. Strict enforcement of all penal provisions, which could be imposed on delinquent passengers who refuse to abide by Covid protocols, should be ensured. “There should be no relaxation whatsoever in that regard”.
7. DGCA guidelines permit relaxation of mask rules in exceptional cases. Such relaxation, if necessary, should be allowed only in cases which are truly exceptional such as for medical reasons.