SC gives Centre one last call to sort excessive airfares

On Friday, the Supreme Court issued a final request to the government to submit a set of finalized rules aimed at curbing excessive and arbitrary airfares charged by private airline operators, said Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. The Court is currently hearing a public interest litigation that questions the pricing practices of private airlines, particularly the seemingly random changes in ticket prices that can inflate travel costs for passengers.

The litigation seeks to increase oversight of the pricing and implement measures to tackle this issue.

In August, the Supreme Court had previously instructed the Central government to ground airlines that do not adhere to these rules. The government had previously stated that rules to regulate fares would be finalized within three weeks. However, airlines have reportedly been ignoring these directives despite the issuance of office memorandums by the civil aviation ministry.

The ministry informed the Court that airlines were not following the directives, even though office memos were issued to them until the rules were finalized.

The top court has also reviewed the draft rules to regulate airfares, which were submitted by the government in a sealed cover. The Supreme Court has set November 16 as the deadline for the rules to be placed before it.