Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad has again been barred from flying on an Air India flight. The airline on Tuesday cancelled his ticket for the Mumbai-Delhi flight on Wednesday morning, saying its stand on him remains the same after the assault on one of its staffer by him last week at the Delhi airport .
Mr. Gaikwad had an open-dated ticket (without a date) and booked the Wednesday flight.
“Our stand remains the same. We have cancelled his ticket for the flight scheduled for departure at 8 a.m. from the Mumbai airport,” Air India spokesperson said.
Mr. Gaikwad's return ticket, scheduled for last Friday, was cancelled by the national carrier after the assault incident. He later booked a ticket on an IndiGo flight, but the airline also cancelled it.
Domestic airlines came together last week to impose a ban on Mr. Gaikwad after the assault on 60-year-old Air India duty manager, who urged the former to deboard the Pune-Delhi flight.
Uproar in Lok Sabha
On Monday, Shiv Sena MPs created an uproar in the Lok Sabha, demanding the lifting of the airlines’ ban on Mr. Gaikwad. They claimed it was unconstitutional. However, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju remained non-committal. He said in the Lok Sabha that violence of any kind on an aircraft could prove disastrous.
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan called a meeting of Shiv Sena MPs with Mr. Raju and urged a solution as, she said, a blanket ban on MPs was not feasible as they had to attend Parliament sessions. “MPs need to attend Parliament and they cannot travel by train always. At times, they need to travel by plane also. I feel that this issue [blanket ban] should be resolved amicably through talks,” she said after the meeting.
Grey areas in rules
A top Civil Aviation Ministry official said on Monday that the government had no role in imposing the ban and the airlines need to take a call on revoking it even as it found certain grey areas in the present rules to ban flyers. The rules make it unclear on whether a blanket ban by airlines could be imposed on a passenger or not, he added.
According to the rules, an airlines can refuse passengers to board a plane or can offload them if they are “likely to be unruly and disruptive” and “pose a threat to the safety and security of the flight.”
However, the Mministry official said the duration of a ban and a grievance mechanism is not put in place in the rules.
“We need to figure out whether a ban needs to be airline specific or would it apply to all the domestic airlines. The present rules do not address these issues. As such, a blanket ban is a grey area in the CAR,” another Ministry official said.
