The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Monday directed the Health Ministry and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to file their responses on a plea moved by no-frills carrier Indigo against its order banning spray of disinfectants in aircraft when passengers are on board.
A Bench headed by Justice Jawad Rahim also asked other airlines, who have been made parties in the case, to respond before July 26, the next date of hearing, whether they too were spraying insecticides in their aircraft loaded with passengers.
Advocate Pinaki Misra, appearing for Indigo, sought modification of the August 3, 2015, direction and said that monsoons had arrived across India leading to an increase in breeding of mosquitoes.
He suggested that spraying can be done using the World Health Organisation-approved insecticide Permethrin instead of D-Phenothrin, which was in question in the 2015 proceedings when the NGT had banned all insecticides.
The budget airline has sought modification of the 2015 direction to the DGCA to ensure that no fumigation is carried out inside a plane when anyone is inside.
The Tribunal had declined to review its order and junked the submission that spraying of Permethrin does not cause harm to human health.
The NGT had issued the directions based on a plea by US-based neurologist Dr. Jai Kumar, who had said that exposure to Permethrin was injurious to human health as it increased the risk of cancer and auto-immune diseases such as Lupus.
