The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought response from the Centre and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security on a plea seeking to conduct security audit at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport here.
A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar issued the notices on the plea which has also sought installation of PNR scanners at the airport to verify the authenticity of e-tickets at entry gates.
Passenger Name Record (PNR) is a record of passengers or a group of passengers travelling together by train or flight.
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Hearing in March
The court posted the matter for further hearing on March 20 next year. The petition, filed by advocate M. Sufian Siddiqui, has arrayed the Director General Civil Aviation, Airports Authority of India, Delhi International Airports Ltd and the Ministry of Home Affairs as parties in the matter.
“Security is under the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security which falls under Ministry of Civil Aviation and the DGCA has nothing to do with the security at IGI,” the DGCA counsel said.
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The petitioner pointed to the plight of a British national who, recently, had to undergo the legal quagmire for entering the wrong terminal at the IGI Airport despite having a valid e-ticket.
“The only fault of the person was that he was erroneously allowed by the CISF officials to enter the wrong Terminal Building albeit he had a valid e-ticket, which only mentioned Indira Gandhi Airport and not the terminal number.
“But the price he had to pay was to face criminal prosecution as he was arrested and arraigned as an accused ,” the petition said. Later the foreigner was absolved.