VAIBHAV SHARMA Vs. AIR INDIA LTD.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Present petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India read with Article 21 of the Constitution of India has been filed as a Public Interest Litigation by the petitioner, who claims to have no personal interest in the litigation and is neither guided by self gain nor is the petition filed for gain of any other person/Institution/body, save as a member of the public and has further averred that he has no motive other than public interest in filing the present petition.

(2.) At the outset, it needs to be noted that the petitioner has given no particulars of his educational qualification or occupation or of any background of having worked in the field of Public Interest Litigation or social welfare in the past. It is also to be noted that in para 2 of the petition, it is clearly stated that the petition is based on information received through media reports, publicly available in print media and considering the grave urgency and immense paucity of time the information could not be confirmed from the concerned offices by way of authenticated replies.

(3.) The present petition has been filed seeking appropriate directions to the respondents to provide proper PPE kits (Personal Protective Equipment) to the pilots and the other cabin crew members on board the flights which are operating between India and foreign countries, carrying foreign nationals to their respective home countries. It is alleged that even if the PPE kits are being issued, the same are not enough for the entire crew and many a times are oversized, in contradiction to the safety and security guidelines. The other issue raised in the petition is that the pilots and the other crew members on these flights, on return, should be quarantined in some hotels, near the airport, instead of home quarantine, where there is a risk of infection to their family members and also leads to serious ostracization of these members.