Middle seats in special international flights to be left empty after Jun 6: Supreme Court
New Delhi/IBNS: Stressing on social distancing norms amid the Covid-19, the Supreme Court on Monday strictly said middle seats in special international flights will have to be left empty after Jun 6, media reports said.
Hence, middle seats can only be booked till Jun 6.
"It is common sense that maintaining social distancing is important. Outside, there should be a social distancing of at least six feet, what about inside aircrafts," said Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad Arvind Bobde.
In strong words, the top court also said the government must be worried about people's health more than that of the commercial airlines.
Air India has been operating 'Vande Bharat' flights since May 7 to bring back huge number of Indians stranded abroad due to the anti-Covid lockdown.
Deven Yogesh Kanani, an Air India pilot, had approached the Bombay High Court saying a Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) circular stating middle seats in planes should be kept vacant was not followed by the national airline for its special flights.
Air India had told the High Court that the circular was superseded by the Indian government's latest rules.
After the High Court had passed an interim order against the selling of the middle seats, Air India and the government had requested an urgent hearing on the matter by the top court.
However, no seat in domestic airlines was kept vacant as the flight operations began on Monday.
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