INDIAN AIRLINES LTD Vs. ASHOK GUPTA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE complainants, who are husband and wife, boarded Indian Airlines Flight No.IC -814 for travelling from Kathmandu to New Delhi on 19 -10 -1999. When the plane reached near Lucknow, it was hijacked by some extremists, who were carrying arms and ammunition and had boarded the said flight as passengers. When the aircraft landed at Amritsar Airport, fuel was filled in it and thereafter the aircraft was forced by the extremists to land at Kandhar Airport in Afghanistan. The case of the complainants is that the hijackers were able to carry arms and ammunition to the aircraft, due to negligence of the airlines and had they been thoroughly checked it would not have been possible for the extremists to hijack the plane, by threatening the crew and the passengers with the arms and ammunition they were able to carry with them. The complainants, therefore, approached the concerned District Forum, seeking compensation amounting to Rs.4,00,000/ - each along with Rs.5,000/ - towards cost of litigation.

(2.) THE complaint was resisted by the petitioner Indian Airlines inter alia on the ground that the matter of compensation payable by an airlines is governed solely by the provisions contained in Carriage by Air Act which envisages payment of compensation only in case of physical injury to the passenger during the air carriage and no compensation is payable for mental injury such as mental trauma and agony undergone by the passenger. It was also stated in the reply that the airline had no role to play at Kathmandu Airport with respect to pre -embarking security checks which were the functions under the control and responsibility of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.

(3.) VIDE its order dated 30 -12 -2003 the District Forum held that in view of the provisions contained in Carriage by Air Act, the complainants were not entitled to any compensation they having suffered no bodily injury. It was also held by the District Forum that the complaint was barred by limitation.