"Once he has made a complaint, can you say that you will not look into it?", Delhi asks DGCA in Kunal Kamra petition

While hearing the petition filed by comedian Kunal Kamra against the flying-ban imposed on him, the Delhi High Court today granted time to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to clarify its stand in cases where it receives a complaint against airlines for alleged violation of its Civil Aviation Rules. (Kunal Kamra vs DGCA)

. The comedian had posted a video of him confronting Arnab Goswami , with whom he shared an IndiGo flight to Lucknow on January 28.

. Kamra was subsequently banned from flying IndiGo for six months for being an unruly passenger. He was intimated of the same via a tweet from IndiGo’s handle. Shortly other airlines including GoAir, Air India, and Spice Jet, also banned Kamra from flying with them indefinitely.

.Kunal Kamra sends legal notice to Indigo; seeks revocation of ban, Rs 25 lakh compensation [Read notice] . Questioning the DGCA on the action taken by it pursuant to Kamra's complaint against several airlines for putting him on a no-fly list without following the due procedure laid down in the Rules, a Single Judge Bench of Justice Navin Chawla today said,

. "Once he has made a complaint, can you say that you will not look into it?"

. Appearing for DGCA, Additional Solicitor General Maninder Acharya and Standing Counsel Anjana Gosain argued that the petition was not maintainable.

. It was argued that the DGCA was merely a regulator and not an adjudicator.

. The Court, however, posed questions to DGCA with respect to its tweets "endorsing" the ban imposed on Kamra by IndiGo as well as other airlines.

. " Why have you given a certificate then? You have given a statement that you are satisfied, now show us..." , the Court said

. ASG Acharya responded that the tweet only pertained to the ban imposed by IndiGo and indicated that the airlines had to follow the law and refer the matter to an Internal Complaints Committee.

. The Court, however, pointed out that the DGCA tweet was in connection with the tweet published by GoAir and said, "You should not have jumped into this."

. On request by the ASG, the Court adjourned the hearing in the matter to allow her to seek instructions.

. Appearing for Kamra, Senior Advocate Vivek Tankha today argued that the travel ban imposed on Kamra was in violation of the Civil Aviation Rules.

. He also relied on the letter written by the pilot of the flight to bring on record the sequence of events on the flight.

. The Court today also impleaded SpiceJet, Air India and GoAir as parties to the petition.

. The matter will be heard next on February 27.

. Senior Advocates Vivek Tankha , Mohit Mathur and Gopal Sankaranarayanan along with Prashant Sivarajan and Ujjawal Anand Sharma. The Petition was filed through Law Firm Lawmen & White .

"Once he has made a complaint, can you say that you will not look into it?", Delhi asks DGCA in Kunal Kamra petition

Aditi Singh